Emily
Editor, Senior Moderator
Abstract
The origins of the highly virulent coronavirus isolated from Wuhan (Hubei, China) are uncertain, as are the reasons for its highly virulent nature (human-to-human transmission before the onset of symptoms). Here, 29 genomes of 2019-nCoV in GISAID reveals a genomic fragment which is present in all 2019-nCoV genomes, (and also in the recent Nanopore sequencing data from a family [1]), and absent in other species. The only entry in GISAID from bats (BatCoV-RaTG13) is a mystery (it does not have any publications linked to it), but is very close to human 2019-nCoV. Mutations in the viral genome need to translate in changes in protein sequences (and function) in order modulate its virulence. This genomic fragment is in the N-terminal of the spike-protein (98-228), a known-epitope region and implicated in viral entry into host cells. Interestingly, this region also encodes a novel 87 novel protein, with a shifted open-reading frame (a phenomenon common in viruses). The genomic fragment will help in faster diagnosis (excluding all other coronaviruses), while the protein information will aid in vaccine or inhibitor design. Note, there are no other fragments which have this property - present in nCov and absent in others. Coincidentally, amino acids ‘17-240 were deleted from the N-terminal domain of the TGEV Spike gene’ using CRISPR, an experiment carried out in Wuhan [2].
Preprint DOI
10.31219/osf.io/6vd54
License
CC0 1.0 Universal
Disciplines
Life Sciences Bioinformatics Immunology and Infectious Disease Other Immunology and Infectious Disease
Tags
2019-nCoV coronavirus Wuhan spike protein GISAID
Citations
APA
Chakraborty, S. (2020, January 29). Ubiquitous genomic fragment in human 2019-nCoV viruses in the spike-protein, also encoding a novel 87 aa protein, completely missing in all other coronaviruses. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/6vd54
https://osf.io/6vd54/
The origins of the highly virulent coronavirus isolated from Wuhan (Hubei, China) are uncertain, as are the reasons for its highly virulent nature (human-to-human transmission before the onset of symptoms). Here, 29 genomes of 2019-nCoV in GISAID reveals a genomic fragment which is present in all 2019-nCoV genomes, (and also in the recent Nanopore sequencing data from a family [1]), and absent in other species. The only entry in GISAID from bats (BatCoV-RaTG13) is a mystery (it does not have any publications linked to it), but is very close to human 2019-nCoV. Mutations in the viral genome need to translate in changes in protein sequences (and function) in order modulate its virulence. This genomic fragment is in the N-terminal of the spike-protein (98-228), a known-epitope region and implicated in viral entry into host cells. Interestingly, this region also encodes a novel 87 novel protein, with a shifted open-reading frame (a phenomenon common in viruses). The genomic fragment will help in faster diagnosis (excluding all other coronaviruses), while the protein information will aid in vaccine or inhibitor design. Note, there are no other fragments which have this property - present in nCov and absent in others. Coincidentally, amino acids ‘17-240 were deleted from the N-terminal domain of the TGEV Spike gene’ using CRISPR, an experiment carried out in Wuhan [2].
Preprint DOI
10.31219/osf.io/6vd54
License
CC0 1.0 Universal
Disciplines
Life Sciences Bioinformatics Immunology and Infectious Disease Other Immunology and Infectious Disease
Tags
2019-nCoV coronavirus Wuhan spike protein GISAID
Citations
APA
Chakraborty, S. (2020, January 29). Ubiquitous genomic fragment in human 2019-nCoV viruses in the spike-protein, also encoding a novel 87 aa protein, completely missing in all other coronaviruses. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/6vd54
https://osf.io/6vd54/