Genomic Study of COVID-19 Corona Virus Excludes Its Origin from Recombination or Characterized Biological Sources and Suggests a Role for HERVS in Its Wide Range Symptoms

Abstract

The COVID-19 corona virus has become a world pandemic which started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China with no confirmed biological source. Various countries reported the genomic sequence of different isolates obtained from infected patients. This allowed us to obtain a number of 38 isolates of full genomic sequences. Alignment of nucleotide (nt) sequence was carried out using Clustal Omega multiple alignment service at the EBI website. Alignment of nt sequence and phylogenetic relationship revealed that the COVID-19 is a new viral strain and its biological source has not been yet detected. The expected orf pattern was different among isolates obtained from the same country or different countries as well as from SARS-CoV isolates or bats CoV suggesting different virus human interaction possibilities during infection and severity. All isolates had the main five orfs (1ab, S, M, N, E), whereas they differed in the expected accessory orfs. Being with the biological source of COVID-19 undetected, the role of human endogenous retrovirus (HERVs) in the regulation of the host cell gene expression or the encoding for products that could modulate COVID-19 infection and the spectrum of its symptoms is discussed.

SARS-CoV-2 and human retroelements: a case for molecular mimicry?

“…4A), as well as SARS-CoV-2-infected human epithelial lung cells and macrophages (Fig. 4B and C), which has occasionally been reported in the last few months for cell lines and patients [28][29][30][31]. Among the analysed REs, LINE1 are strongly represented in all results (Fig.…”

“…While the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 replication has already been achieved [5][6][7][8][9][10], the factors driving the late phase of the disease are poorly understood [11,12]. However, it has been reported that autoimmunity [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] and deregulation of human retroelements (RE) might contribute to the outcome of COVID-19 patients [28][29][30][31]. about 25 % £ 6 aa, but only a few at 4 aa [55]).…”

Multiple Sclerosis and SARS-CoV-2: Has the Interplay Started?

“…Being predictive of a severe prognosis, ENV expression could play a role in immune overactivation and contribute to acute and chronic COVID-19 complications ( 135 ). In this context, HERVs could act as endogenous modulators of SARS-CoV-2/host interaction, helping to explain the extreme inter-individual variability in COVID-19 manifestations ( 136 ). Along this line, potential interplays of Herpesviruses and HERVs with SARS-CoV-2 might also be conceivably supposed to impact on MS pathogenesis and affect disease course.…”

Syncytin, envelope protein of human endogenous retrovirus (HERV): no longer ‘fossil’ in human genome

“…HERVs may play a role in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 symptoms (El-Shehawi et al 2020 ). HERVs or their viral products might promote the infection and penetrance of the virus to human cells, or HERVs may produce proteins that regulate the translation start for the ribosome changing the pattern of COVID-19 ORFs in different human hosts; thus the severity and course of the COVID-19 infection would differ.…”

“…Although vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 helps protect from COVID-19, some people are hesitant to the vaccinations for a number of reasons, including a rumor that concerns a cross-activity of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein syncytin-1 in the placenta. Also, some recent reports show the differentially expressed HERVs in COVID-19 patients, suggesting that HERVs may be involved in COVID-19 epidemiology (El-Shehawi et al 2020 ; Kitsou et al 2021 ; Marston et al 2021 ). On the other hand, it has been reported that CRP level increases in serum from COVID-19 patients and positively correlates with disease severity (Chen et al 2020 ; Luo et al 2020 ).…”