Molecular Evolution and Structural Mapping of N-Terminal Domain in Spike Gene of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

ABSTRACT: The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a lethal zoonotic pathogen circulating in the Arabian Peninsula since 2012. There is no vaccine for MERS and anti-viral treatment is generally not applicable. We investigated the evolution of the MERS-CoV spike gene sequences and changes in viral loads over time from patients in Saudi Arabia from 2105-2017. All the MERS-CoV strains belonged to lineage 5, and showed high sequence homology (99.9%) to 2017 strains. Recombination analysis showed a potential recombination event in study strains from patients in Saudi Arabia. The spike gene showed eight amino acid substitutions, especially between the A1 and B5 lineage, and contained positively selected codon 1020. We also determined that the viral loads were significantly (p

SUBMITTER: Naeem A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7290774 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature