Genomic variance of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus

Abstract

There is rising global concern for the recently emerged novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov). Full genomic sequences have been released by the worldwide scientific community in the last few weeks in order to understand the evolutionary origin and molecular characteristics of this virus. Taking advantage of all the genomic information currently available, we constructed a phylogenetic tree including also representatives of other coronaviridae, such as Bat coronavirus (BCoV) and SARS. We confirm high sequence similarity (>99%) between all sequenced 2019-nCoVs genomes available, with the closest BCoV sequence sharing 96.2% sequence identity, confirming the notion of a zoonotic origin of 2019-nCoV. Despite the low heterogeneity of the 2019-nCoV genomes, we could identify at least two hyper-variable genomic hotspots, one of which is responsible for a Serine/Leucine variation in the viral ORF8-encoded protein. Finally, we perform a full proteomic comparison with other coronaviridae, identifying key aminoacidic differences to be considered for antiviral strategies deriving from previous anti-coronavirus approaches.

Master Regulator Analysis of the SARS-CoV-2/Human interactome

“…Given the emergency, the characterization of the biology of SARS-CoV-2 and features of virus-host interactions is demanding to identify candidate molecules to inhibit viral functions. Sequence similarity of new coronavirus with SARS and MERS was previously reported and close similarities with wild bat coronaviruses has been reported [14]. New coronavirus spike S glycoprotein sequence shares a sequence identity above 72% with human SARS, showing a unique furin-like cleavage site which is a feature absent in the other SARS-like CoVs [15].…”

Identification of the hyper-variable genomic hotspot for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

“…We compared these results with those of the work of Ceraolo and Giorgi [8], who reported at least two hyper-variable genomic hotspots based on the Shannon entropy of nucleotide sequences. They utilized all of the sequences, while we merged all of the fully identical sequences into one during our Shannon entropy calculation.…”

Correcting under-reported COVID-19 case numbers: estimating the true scale of the pandemic

“…• The virus is identical in all countries This is supported by the very low mutational rate of SARS-CoV-2, which allows conjecturing identical etiologies across countries (12).…”