Abstract:The recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for the current pandemic of COVID-19, which uses the human membrane protein ACE2 as a gateway to the host-cell infection. We perform comparative genomic analysis of 70 ACE2 placental mammal orthologues to identify variations and contribute to the understanding of evolutionary dynamics behind this successful adaptation to infect humans. Our results reveal that 4% of the ACE2 sites are under positive selection, all located in the catalytic domain, suggesting poss… Show more
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