Neutral evolution test of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and its implications in the binding to ACE2.

ABSTRACT: As the SARS-CoV-2 has spread and the pandemic has dragged on, the virus continued to evolve rapidly resulting in the emergence of new highly transmissible variants that can be of public health concern. The evolutionary mechanisms that drove this rapid diversity are not well understood but neutral evolution should open the first insight. The neutral theory of evolution states that most mutations in the nucleic acid sequences are random and they can be fixed or disappear by purifying selection. Herein, we performed a neutrality test to better understand the selective pressures exerted over SARS-CoV-2 spike protein from homologue proteins of Betacoronavirus, as well as to the spikes from human clinical isolates of the virus. Specifically, Tyr and Asn have higher occurrence rates on the Recept

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Cortes GI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8458503 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature