Use of the informational spectrum methodology for rapid biological analysis of the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV: prediction of potential receptor, natural reservoir, tropism and therapeutic/vaccine target

Abstract

A novel coronavirus recently identified in Wuhan, China (2019-nCoV) has expanded the number of highly pathogenic coronaviruses affecting humans. The 2019-nCoV represents a potential epidemic or pandemic threat, which requires a quick response for preparedness against this infection. The present report uses the informational spectrum methodology to identify the possible origin and natural host of the new virus, as well as putative therapeutic and vaccine targets. The performed in silico analysis indicates that the newly emerging 2019-nCoV is closely related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and, to a lesser degree, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV. Moreover, the well-known SARS-CoV receptor (ACE2) might be a putative receptor for the novel virus as well. Additional results indicated that civets and poultry are potential candidates for the natural reservoir of the 2019-nCoV, and that domain 288-330 of S1 protein from the 2019-nCoV represents promising therapeutic and/or vaccine target. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text | Free Full Text 9. Li W, Moore MJ, Vasilieva N, et al.: Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is a functional receptor for the SARS coronavirus. Nature. 2003; 426(6965): 450-4. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text 10. Raj VS, Mou H, Smits SL, et al.: Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 is a functional receptor for the emerging human coronavirus-EMC. Nature. 2013; 495(7440): 251-4. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text 11. Müller MA, Raj VS, Muth D, et al.: Human coronavirus EMC does not require the SARS-coronavirus receptor and maintains broad replicative capability in mammalian cell lines. mBio. 2012; 3(6): pii: e00515-12.PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text | Free Full Text

Coronavirus infections reported by ProMED, February 2000–January 2020

“…Even also, now scientific and especially medical journals are open to make a rapid dissemination of information, expeditely peer-reviewed, in order to place online relevant information during the epidemics [35]. This has been the case of the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, F1000 Research, Viruses, and Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases, among other journals [34,36,37].…”

COVID-19, an emerging coronavirus infection: advances and prospects in designing and developing vaccines, immunotherapeutics, and therapeutics

“…28 Likewise, the close similarity of SARS-CoV-2 to the SARS-CoV suggests that the receptor of SARS-CoV-2 might be the same as that of SARS-CoV receptor (ACE2). 29 Immuno-informatics approach can be used for the identification of epitopes for inclusion in COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Recently, immuno-informatics was used to identify significant cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) and B-cell epitopes in SARS-CoV-2 S protein.…”

A review on the cleavage priming of the spike protein on coronavirus by angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 and furin

“…Some genetic and structural analyzes have identified the main characteristic of the virus, which could increase the efficiency and speed of virus transmission between human cells (Belouzard et al, 2012;Jaimes & Whittaker, 2018). Also, some groups are investigating a receptor on cell membranes that introduces the fusion of new CoV into human HCs (Veljkovic et al, 2020;Zheng & Perlman, 2018). Both the cellular and protein receptors of the virus provide potential targets for development of drugs against pathogen (Kaufmann et al, 2018;Papadopoulos et al, 2017).…”