Abstract
Coronavirus-related Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) in 2002/2003, Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) in 2012/2013, and especially the current 2019/2021 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2) affected negatively the national health systems’ endurance worldwide. SARS-Cov-2 virus belongs to lineage b of beta-CoVs demonstrating a strong phylogenetic similarity with BatCoVRaTG13 type. Spike (S) glycoprotein projections -consisting of two subunits S1/S2- provide a unique crown-like formation (corona) on virion’s surface. Concerning their functional role, S1 represents the main receptor-binding domain (RBD), whereas S2 is involved in the virus-cell membrane fusion mechanism. On Nov 26th 2021, WHO designated the new SARS-CoV-2 strain – named Omicron, from letter ”όμικρον” in the Greek alphabet – as a variant of concern (B.1.1529 variant). Potentially this new variant is associated with high transmissibility leading to elevated infectivity and probably increased re-infection rates. Its impact on morbidity/mortality remains under investigation. In the current paper, analyzing and comparing the alterations of SARS-CoV-2 S RNA sequences in the defined variants (Alpha to Omicron), we observed some interesting findings regarding the S1-RBD/S2 mutation/deletion equilibrium that maybe affect and modify its activity.
Keywords: COVID-19; Genome; Mutations; RNA; SARS-CoV-2; Variants.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Genome, mutations, variants, RNA, 【초록키워드】 spike, SARS-CoV, Genome, variant, SARS-CoV-2 virus, omicron, virus, MERS-CoV, variants, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, Transmissibility, Corona, RBD, Re-infection, Lineage, Alpha, WHO, glycoprotein, respiratory, mechanism, similarity, Phylogenetic, acute respiratory syndrome, subunit, alteration, domain, S1/S2, SARS-CoV-2 S, virion, RNA sequences, beta-CoVs, RNA sequence, Affect, new SARS-CoV-2, virus-cell membrane fusion, national health system, defined, affected, involved, elevated, functional, unique, modify, beta-CoV, 【제목키워드】 defined,