tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
PLoS One
. 2021 Dec 2;16(12):e0260360.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260360. eCollection 2021.
SARS-CoV-2 spike protein displays sequence similarities with paramyxovirus surface proteins; a bioinformatics study
Ehsan Ahmadi[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mohammad Reza Zabihi[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ramin Hosseinzadeh[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Leila Mohamed Khosroshahi[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Farshid Noorbakhsh[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and associated COVID-19 pandemic have posed a great challenge for the scientific community. In this study, we performed bioinformatic analyses on SARS-CoV-2 protein sequences, trying to unravel potential molecular similarities between this newly emerged pathogen with non-coronavirus ssRNA viruses. Comparing the proteins of SARS-CoV-2 with non-coronavirus positive and negative strand ssRNA viruses revealed multiple sequence similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and non-coronaviruses, including similarities between RNA-dependent RNA-polymerases and helicases (two highly-conserved proteins). We also observed similarities between SARS-CoV-2 surface (i.e. spike) protein with paramyxovirus fusion proteins. This similarity was restricted to a segment of spike protein S2 subunit which is involved in cell fusion. We next analyzed spike proteins from SARS-CoV-2 "variants of concern" (VOCs) and "variants of interests" (VOIs) and found that some of these variants show considerably higher spike-fusion similarity with paramyxoviruses. The 'spike-fusion' similarity was also observed for some pathogenic coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2. Epitope analysis using experimentally verified data deposited in Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) revealed that several B cell epitopes as well as T cell and MHC binding epitopes map within the spike-fusion similarity region. These data indicate that there might be a degree of convergent evolution between SARS-CoV-2 and paramyxovirus surface proteins which could be of pathogenic and immunological importance.
. 2021 Dec 2;16(12):e0260360.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260360. eCollection 2021.
SARS-CoV-2 spike protein displays sequence similarities with paramyxovirus surface proteins; a bioinformatics study
Ehsan Ahmadi[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mohammad Reza Zabihi[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ramin Hosseinzadeh[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Leila Mohamed Khosroshahi[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Farshid Noorbakhsh[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34855795
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260360
Abstract
Recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and associated COVID-19 pandemic have posed a great challenge for the scientific community. In this study, we performed bioinformatic analyses on SARS-CoV-2 protein sequences, trying to unravel potential molecular similarities between this newly emerged pathogen with non-coronavirus ssRNA viruses. Comparing the proteins of SARS-CoV-2 with non-coronavirus positive and negative strand ssRNA viruses revealed multiple sequence similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and non-coronaviruses, including similarities between RNA-dependent RNA-polymerases and helicases (two highly-conserved proteins). We also observed similarities between SARS-CoV-2 surface (i.e. spike) protein with paramyxovirus fusion proteins. This similarity was restricted to a segment of spike protein S2 subunit which is involved in cell fusion. We next analyzed spike proteins from SARS-CoV-2 "variants of concern" (VOCs) and "variants of interests" (VOIs) and found that some of these variants show considerably higher spike-fusion similarity with paramyxoviruses. The 'spike-fusion' similarity was also observed for some pathogenic coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2. Epitope analysis using experimentally verified data deposited in Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) revealed that several B cell epitopes as well as T cell and MHC binding epitopes map within the spike-fusion similarity region. These data indicate that there might be a degree of convergent evolution between SARS-CoV-2 and paramyxovirus surface proteins which could be of pathogenic and immunological importance.