The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 or COVID-19 has been the cause of a global pandemic in 2020. With the numbers infected rising well above a 100,000 and confirmed deaths above 4000, it has become the paramount health concern for the global community at present. The COVID-19 genome has since been sequenced and its predicted proteome identified. In this study, we looked at the expected COVID-19 proteins and compare them to its close relative, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus. In particular we focussed on the M protein which is known to play a significant role in the virion structure of Coronaviruses. The rationale here was that since the major risk factor associated with COVID-19 was its ease of spread, we wished to focus on the viral structure and architecture to look for clues that may indicate structural stability, thus prolonging the time span for which it can survive free of a host. As a result of the study, we found some rather interesting differences between the M protein for COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV virus M protein. This included amino acid changes from non-polar to polar residues in regions important for anchoring the protein in the envelope membrane.
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most significant psychiatric disorders in the world today. Its incidence is widespread in society and its heavy adverse impact on the quality of life is well documented. Previously genetic studies on MDD had identified a hereditary component of the disease as well as crediting RNA editing with a role in its development. The later due to an overexpression of a heavily edited isoform of the Serotonin 2c receptor. Here we used publicly available RNA sequence data from suicide patients diagnosed with MDD as well as controls for identifying RNA editing sites unique to MDD. After variant calling and several steps of filtering, we identified 142 unique RNA editing sites in the MDD patients. These included intronic, downstream, UTR3 and exonic edits. The latter comprising several amino acid changes in the encoded protein. The genes implicated to be uniquely edited in MDD included the aforementioned and previously implicated Serotonin 2c receptor, others involved in functions that play roles in depression and suicide such as Cannabinoid Receptor 1, Frizzled Class 3 Receptor, Neuroligin 3 and others.
As the body of scientific research focusing on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2 continues to grow, several mutations have been reported as very common across the globe. In this study, we analysed the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (N protein) with respect to the widely observed 28881-28883 GGG to AAC variant. One of the major functions of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein is virion packaging through its interactions with the membrane protein (M protein). Our goal was to investigate, using in silico studies, the interaction between the mutant nucleocapsid protein and the M protein and how it differed from that of wild type N-M protein interaction. The results showed significant differences in interactions between the two. The mutant protein was predicted to form 3 salt bridges with the M protein, while the wild type only formed 2. The mutant protein was also predicted to display less temperature sensitivity than its wild type counterpart.
Recently the first genome sequence for a Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2 isolate from Bangladesh became available. The sequencing was carried out by the Child Health Research Foundation and provided the first insight into the genetic details of the viral strain responsible for the SARS-CoV-2 infections in Bangladesh. Here we carried out a comparative study were we explored the phylogenetic relationship between the Bangladeshi isolate with other isolates from different parts of the world. Afterwards we identified single nucleotide variants in the Bangladeshi isolate, using the Wuhan virus reference sequence. We found a total of 9 variants in the Bangladeshi isolate using 2 separate tools. Barring 2, the rest of these variants were also observed in other isolates from different countries. Most of the variants occurred in the ORF1ab gen. Another noteworthy finding was a sequence of three consecutive variants in the N protein gene that were observed in other isolates as well. Lastly the phylogenetic analysis revealed a close relationship between the Bangladeshi isolate and those from Taiwan,
RNA editing is a form of post-transcriptional modification that results in changes to the messenger RNA sequence. At the onset of the study we focused on detecting the changes in RNA editing patterns in cell lines exposed to hypoxic conditions followed by the detection of changes in RNA editing patterns in the fetuses of preeclamptic mothers using publicly available RNA sequence data from the NCBI SRA database. The results showed an increase in RNA editing activity in hypoxic cell lines and a decrease in RNA editing activity in the fetuses with preeclamptic mothers. A total of 85 genes common in the cell lines and 33 in the fetus disease models and not present in controls were identified as harboring editing sites in exonic, downstream, upstream or splicing regions. Subsequently we focused on unique editing sites in genes and categorized in order of relevance to Preeclampsia as A, B and C (A being most closely related to the disease and C the least). The genes implicated ones involved in respiration chains, blood cell growth, cytokine and complement activation. Among the most significant of the genes were CTSB, GSR, CASP10, and MAPK13. Total number of common editing sites were found in different conditions and these were 667 for cell lines and 23 for fetuses. Validation of these variations in a larger samples size determines refined editing sites which could be used as potential diagnostic markers for intervention.
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