Identification of the full complement of genes in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a crucial step towards gaining a fuller understanding of its molecular biology. However, short and/or overlapping genes can be difficult to detect using conventional computational approaches, whereas high-throughput experimental approaches – such as ribosome profiling – cannot distinguish translation of functional peptides from regulatory translation or translational noise. By studying regions showing enhanced conservation at synonymous sites in alignments of SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses (subgenus Sarbecovirus ) and correlating the results with the conserved presence of an open reading frame (ORF) and a plausible translation mechanism, a putative new gene – ORF3c – was identified. ORF3c overlaps ORF3a in an alternative reading frame. A recently published ribosome profiling study confirmed that ORF3c is indeed translated during infection. ORF3c is conserved across the subgenus Sarbecovirus , and encodes a 40–41 amino acid predicted transmembrane protein.
【저자키워드】 coronavirus, SARS-CoV, sarbecovirus, ORF3c, overlapping gene, 3c, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, Molecular biology, translation, Infection, peptide, complement, Computational approaches, Regulatory, Region, ORF3a, mechanism, Amino acid, identification, overlapping, acute respiratory syndrome, Frame, overlap, transmembrane protein, ENCODE, approach, synonymous, predicted, detect, conserved, ORF, functional, related virus, translated, translational, 【제목키워드】 Protein, ORF3a, overlapping, ORF,