ABSTRACT Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was isolated from the oro/pharyngeal swabs of two Italian COVID-19 patients, physicians in a COVID-19 division hospital, with different courses of the disease. The complete genome sequences show that the two isolates belong to the B1.1 lineage, but contain a nucleotide mutation in the ORF6, leading to a stop codon and to the deletion of 6 amino acids in the C terminus. This deletion was unique, compared to the currently available sequences deposited in the GISAID and GenBank database. It did not affect the in vitro viral replication, neither the neutralizing activities of the patients’ antibodies. Based on homology analysis with other Coronaviruses, the two isolated lacked the ORF6 aminoacidic portion responsible for the inhibition of the antiviral Interferon (IFN)-based host response. IFN seems to have a dual role of in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients: not only antiviral activity, but also a detrimental role in case of excessive production. A deletion in the SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 protein might have a specific, still unknown role in the viral pathogenesis.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, interferon, COVID-19 pathogenesis, ORF6, stop codon, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, antibodies, coronavirus, Mutation, Antiviral, hospital, viral pathogenesis, host response, in vitro, antiviral activity, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, Protein, Neutralizing activity, Viral, viral replication, Lineage, amino acids, Deletion, IFN, ORF6, Swab, respiratory, stop codon, GISAID, COVID-19 patients, Amino acid, nucleotide, genome sequence, detrimental, dual, acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, other coronaviruses, sequence, homology, physician, C terminus, GenBank database, homology analysis, Complete, isolate, Italian, Course, responsible, the patient, the disease, unique, not affect, the SARS-CoV-2, 【제목키워드】 Mutation, Protein, SARS-CoV-2 strain, ORF,