Nitric Oxide and Coronavirus

The next search for "nitric oxide and coronavirus" led me to this paper that was published in the Journal of Virology in 2005.  It is useful to remember that the world dodged a bullet in 2003-2004 when the first SARS outbreak.  That was a classic case of a close call that was wasted.  

The Wikipedia article about it is well worth reading. 

Close calls are extremely valuable.  They alert us to a problem without our having to suffer the dire consequences the problem could cause if not corrected.  There should be a scientific discipline dedicated to the study of close calls.  Every organization should have a close call policy that requires the near-miss to be studied in detail, the causes identified, corrective measures implemented, and periodic testing done to confirm the measures have succeeded.  

Of course, we do not do this.  People hide close calls because they don't want to be criticized for whatever failing was responsible for them.  The 2003-04 SARS story foretold, in detail, what we have experienced with Covid-19.  The current narrative closely tracks what happened back then.  

It started in November, in China.  "Early in the epidemic, the Chinese Government discouraged its press from reporting on SARS, delayed reporting to WHO, and initially did not provide information to Chinese outside Guangdong province, where the disease is believed to have originated. Also, a WHO team that traveled to Beijing was not allowed to visit Guangdong province for several weeks."  [Wikipedia]  

Sound familiar?  The virus appears to have begun with bats and from spread to civets offered for sale in a Chinese wild animal market.  Bats, Civets and the Emergence of SARS  PubMed abstract only    A Chinese paper published in 2017 reinforced this conclusion.

Here is the link to the 2005 paper.  It concludes that nitric oxide (NO) impeded the SARS virus from replicating.   

Nitric Oxide Inhibits the Replication Cycle of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.

I found a 2009 paper that cites it and proposes two mechanisms for how NO gets in the way of replication.  The chemistry is way above my head.  

Dual effect of nitric oxide on SARS-CoV replication.

This 2018 paper features chemistry that is even farther out of reach for me.  I think my weakness is in spatial reasoning, which seems useful in understanding organic chemistry. 

Post-translational modifications of coronavirus proteins: roles and function