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Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2020.
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Abstract
- We are currently witnessing a major epidemic caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The evolution of 2019-nCoV remains elusive. We found 4 insertions in the spike glycoprotein (S) which are unique to the 2019-nCoV and are not present in other coronaviruses. Importantly, amino acid residues in all the 4 inserts have identity or similarity to those in the HIV-1 gp120 or HIV-1 Gag. Interestingly, despite the inserts being discontinuous on the primary amino acid sequence, 3D-modelling of the 2019-nCoV suggests that they converge to constitute the receptor binding site. The finding of 4 unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV, all of which have identity /similarity to amino acid residues in key structural proteins of HIV-1 is unlikely to be fortuitous in nature. This work provides yet unknown insights on 2019-nCoV and sheds light on the evolution and pathogenicity of this virus with important implications for diagnosis of this virus.
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b29294a5815dd3558df296bc93c0c90d
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871