Prediction of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Immunogenicity, Immune Escape and Pathogenicity, through the Analysis of Spike Protein-Specific Core Unique Peptides.

ABSTRACT: The recently discovered Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has raised a new, global, awareness. In this study, we identified the Core Unique Peptides (CrUPs) that reside exclusively in the Omicron variant of Spike protein and are absent from the human proteome, creating a new dataset of peptides named as SARS-CoV-2 CrUPs against the human proteome (C/H-CrUPs), and we analyzed their locations in comparison to the Alpha and Delta variants. In Omicron, 115 C/H-CrUPs were generated and 119 C/H-CrUPs were lost, almost four times as many compared to the other two variants. At the Receptor Binding Motif (RBM), 8 mutations were detected, resulting in the construction of 28 novel C/H-CrUPs. Most importantly, in the Omicron variant, new C/H-CrUPs carrying two or three mutant amino acids w

SUBMITTER: Kontopodis E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8955659 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature