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Yin Q, Liu W, Jiang Y, Feng Q, Wang X, Dou H, Liu Z, He F, Fan Y, Jiao B, Jiao B. Comprehensive genomic analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant BA.2.76 in Jining City, China, 2022. BMC Genomics 2024; 25:378. [PMID: 38632523 PMCID: PMC11022347 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10246-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study aims to analyze the molecular characteristics of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant BA.2.76 in Jining City, China. METHODS Whole-genome sequencing was performed on 87 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Evolutionary trees were constructed using bioinformatics software to analyze sequence homology, variant sites, N-glycosylation sites, and phosphorylation sites. RESULTS All 87 SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequences were classified under the evolutionary branch of the Omicron variant BA.2.76. Their similarity to the reference strain Wuhan-Hu-1 ranged from 99.72 to 99.74%. In comparison to the reference strain Wuhan-Hu-1, the 87 sequences exhibited 77-84 nucleotide differences and 27 nucleotide deletions. A total of 69 amino acid variant sites, 9 amino acid deletions, and 1 stop codon mutation were identified across 18 proteins. Among them, the spike (S) protein exhibited the highest number of variant sites, and the ORF8 protein showed a Q27 stop mutation. Multiple proteins displayed variations in glycosylation and phosphorylation sites. CONCLUSION SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, giving rise to new strains with enhanced transmission, stronger immune evasion capabilities, and reduced pathogenicity. The application of high-throughput sequencing technologies in the epidemic prevention and control of COVID-19 provides crucial insights into the evolutionary and variant characteristics of the virus at the genomic level, thereby holding significant implications for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Yin
- Department of Laboratory, Jining Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China
| | - Wei Liu
- Department of Laboratory, Jining Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China
| | - Yajuan Jiang
- Department of Laboratory, Jining Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China
| | - Qiang Feng
- Department of Laboratory, Rencheng Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China
| | - Xiaoyu Wang
- Department of Laboratory, Jining Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China
| | - Huixin Dou
- Department of Laboratory, Jining Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China
| | - Zanzan Liu
- Department of Laboratory, Jining Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China
| | - Feifei He
- Computer Information Technology, Northern Arizona University, Arizona, USA
| | - Yingying Fan
- Department of Laboratory, Jining Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China.
| | - Baihai Jiao
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA.
| | - Boyan Jiao
- Department of Laboratory, Jining Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jining, China.
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Arduini A, Laprise F, Liang C. SARS-CoV-2 ORF8: A Rapidly Evolving Immune and Viral Modulator in COVID-19. Viruses 2023; 15:871. [PMID: 37112851 PMCID: PMC10141009 DOI: 10.3390/v15040871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Revised: 03/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in upwards of 6.8 million deaths over the past three years, and the frequent emergence of variants continues to strain global health. Although vaccines have greatly helped mitigate disease severity, SARS-CoV-2 is likely to remain endemic, making it critical to understand its viral mechanisms contributing to pathogenesis and discover new antiviral therapeutics. To efficiently infect, this virus uses a diverse set of strategies to evade host immunity, accounting for its high pathogenicity and rapid spread throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Behind some of these critical host evasion strategies is the accessory protein Open Reading Frame 8 (ORF8), which has gained recognition in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis due to its hypervariability, secretory property, and unique structure. This review discusses the current knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 ORF8 and proposes actualized functional models describing its pivotal roles in both viral replication and immune evasion. A better understanding of ORF8's interactions with host and viral factors is expected to reveal essential pathogenic strategies utilized by SARS-CoV-2 and inspire the development of novel therapeutics to improve COVID-19 disease outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariana Arduini
- Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC H3T 1E2, Canada; (A.A.); (F.L.)
- Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
| | - Frederique Laprise
- Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC H3T 1E2, Canada; (A.A.); (F.L.)
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Chen Liang
- Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC H3T 1E2, Canada; (A.A.); (F.L.)
- Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada
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Yu CY, Wong SY, Liew NWC, Joseph N, Zakaria Z, Nurulfiza I, Soe HJ, Kairon R, Amin-Nordin S, Chee HY. Whole genome sequencing analysis of SARS-CoV-2 from Malaysia: From alpha to Omicron. Front Med (Lausanne) 2022; 9:1001022. [PMID: 36213636 PMCID: PMC9537942 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.1001022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Countries around the world are gearing for the transition of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from pandemic to endemic phase but the emergence of new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants could lead to a prolonged pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 has continued to evolve as it optimizes its adaptation to the human host and the successive waves of COVID-19 have been linked to the explosion of particular variant of concern. As the genetic diversity and epidemiological landscape of SARS-CoV-2 differ from country to country, this study aims to provide insights into the variants that are circulating in Malaysia. Whole genome sequencing was performed for 204 SARS-CoV-2 from COVID-19 cases and an additional 18,667 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences were retrieved from the GISAID EpiCoV database for clade, lineage and genetic variation analyses. Complete genome sequences with high coverage were then used for phylogeny investigation and the resulting phylogenetic tree was constructed from 8,716 sequences. We found that the different waves of COVID-19 in Malaysia were dominated by different clades with the L and O clade for first and second wave, respectively, whereas the progressive replacement by G, GH, and GK of the GRA clade were observed in the subsequence waves. Continuous monitoring of the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 is important to identify the emergence and dominance of new variant in different locality so that the appropriate countermeasures can be taken to effectively contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Choo Yee Yu
- Laboratory of Vaccine and Biomolecules, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Sie Yeng Wong
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Nancy Woan Charn Liew
- Laboratory of Vaccine and Biomolecules, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Narcisse Joseph
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Zunita Zakaria
- Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
- Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Isa Nurulfiza
- Laboratory of Vaccine and Biomolecules, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
| | | | | | - Syafinaz Amin-Nordin
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Hui Yee Chee
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
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Troyano-Hernáez P, Reinosa R, Holguín Á. Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in Spain during the First Two Years of the Pandemic: Circulating Variants, Amino Acid Conservation, and Genetic Variability in Structural, Non-Structural, and Accessory Proteins. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:6394. [PMID: 35742840 PMCID: PMC9223475 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23126394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Monitoring SARS-CoV-2’s genetic diversity and emerging mutations in this ongoing pandemic is crucial to understanding its evolution and ensuring the performance of COVID-19 diagnostic tests, vaccines, and therapies. Spain has been one of the main epicenters of COVID-19, reaching the highest number of cases and deaths per 100,000 population in Europe at the beginning of the pandemic. This study aims to investigate the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Spain and its 18 Autonomous Communities across the six epidemic waves established from February 2020 to January 2022. We report on the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants in each epidemic wave and Spanish region and analyze the mutation frequency, amino acid (aa) conservation, and most frequent aa changes across each structural/non-structural/accessory viral protein among the Spanish sequences deposited in the GISAID database during the study period. The overall SARS-CoV-2 mutation frequency was 1.24 × 10−5. The aa conservation was >99% in the three types of protein, being non-structural the most conserved. Accessory proteins had more variable positions, while structural proteins presented more aa changes per sequence. Six main lineages spread successfully in Spain from 2020 to 2022. The presented data provide an insight into the SARS-CoV-2 circulation and genetic variability in Spain during the first two years of the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - África Holguín
- HIV-1 Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory, Microbiology Department and Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS) in Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Red en Investigación Translacional en Infecciones Pediátricas (RITIP), 28034 Madrid, Spain; (P.T.-H.); (R.R.)
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Goud VR, Chakraborty R, Chakraborty A, Lavudi K, Patnaik S, Sharma S, Patnaik S. A bioinformatic approach of targeting SARS-CoV-2 replication by silencing a conserved alternative reserve of the orf8 gene using host miRNAs. Comput Biol Med 2022; 145:105436. [PMID: 35366472 PMCID: PMC8942883 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2022] [Revised: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has yielded multiple relevant mutations, many of which have branched into major variants. The Omicron variant has a huge similarity with the original viral strain (first COVID-19 strain from Wuhan). Among different genes, the highly variable orf8 gene is responsible for crucial host interactions and has undergone multiple mutations and indels. The sequence of the orf8 gene of the Omicron variant is, however, identical with the gene sequence of the wild type. orf8 modulates the host immunity making it easier for the virus to conceal itself and remain undetected. Variants seem to be deleting this gene without affecting the viral replication. While analyzing, we came across the conserved orf7a gene in the viral genome which exhibits a partial sequence homology as well as functional similarity with the SARS-CoV-2 orf8. Hence, we have proposed here in our hypothesis that, orf7a might be an alternative reserve of orf8 present in the virus which was compensating for the lost gene. A computational approach was adopted where we screened various miRNAs targeted against the orf8 gene. These miRNAs were then docked onto the orf8 mRNA sequences. The same set of miRNAs was then used to check for their binding affinity with the orf7a reference mRNA. Results showed that miRNAs targeting the orf8 had favorable shape complementarity and successfully docked with the orf7a gene as well. These findings provide a basis for developing new therapeutic approaches where both orf8 and orf7a can be targeted simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Kousalya Lavudi
- School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India
| | - Sriram Patnaik
- School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India
| | - Swati Sharma
- School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,Dept. of Skill Buildings Shri Ramasamy Memorial University, Sikkim, Gangtok, 737102, India
| | - Srinivas Patnaik
- School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India,Corresponding author. School of Biotechnology, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India
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Chou JM, Tsai JL, Hung JN, Chen IH, Chen ST, Tsai MH. The ORF8 Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Modulates the Spike Protein and Its Implications in Viral Transmission. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:883597. [PMID: 35663899 PMCID: PMC9161165 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.883597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 04/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
COVID-19 is currently global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Accompanying the rapid spread of the error-prone RNA-based genome, several dominant SARS-CoV-2 variants have been genetically identified. The mutations in the spike protein, which are essential for receptor binding and fusion, have been intensively investigated for their contributions to viral transmission. Nevertheless, the importance of other viral proteins and their mutations in SARS-CoV-2 lifecycle and transmission remains fairly understood. Here, we report the strong potency of an accessory protein ORF8 in modulating the level and processing of the spike protein. The expression of ORF8 protein does not affect propagation but expression of spike protein, which may lead to pseudovirions with less spike protein on the surface, therefore less infection potential. At the protein level, ORF8 expression led to downregulation and insufficient S1/S2 cleavage of the spike protein in a dose-dependent manner. ORF8 exhibits a strong interaction with the spike protein mainly at S1 domains and mediates its degradation through multiple pathways. The dominant clinical isolated ORF8 variants with the reduced protein stability exhibited the increased capacity of viral transmission without compromising their inhibitory effects on HLA-A2. Although the increase in spike protein level and Spike pseudovirus production observed by using highly transmissible clinical spike variants, there was no significant compromise in ORF8-mediated downregulation. Because ORF8 is important for immune surveillance and might be required for viral fitness in vivo, the alteration of the spike protein might be an optional strategy used by SARS-CoV-2 to promote viral transmission by escaping the inhibitory effects of ORF8. Therefore, our report emphasized the importance of ORF8 in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein production, maturation, and possible evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jen-Mei Chou
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Jo-Ling Tsai
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Jo-Ning Hung
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - I-Hua Chen
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
- College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Szu-Ting Chen
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- Research Center for Epidemic Prevention, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Ming-Han Tsai
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Research Center for Epidemic Prevention, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- *Correspondence: Ming-Han Tsai,
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Takatsuka H, Fahmi M, Hamanishi K, Sakuratani T, Kubota Y, Ito M. In silico Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 ORF8-Binding Proteins Reveals the Involvement of ORF8 in Acquired-Immune and Innate-Immune Systems. Front Med (Lausanne) 2022; 9:824622. [PMID: 35178414 PMCID: PMC8844466 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.824622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2021] [Accepted: 01/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of a new type of coronavirus infection, COVID-19, which has rapidly spread worldwide. The overall genome sequence homology between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV is 79%. However, the homology of the ORF8 protein between these two coronaviruses is low, at ~26%. Previously, it has been suggested that infection by the ORF8-deleted variant of SARS-CoV-2 results in less severe symptoms than in the case of wild-type SARS-CoV-2. Although we found that ORF8 is involved in the proteasome autoimmunity system, the precise role of ORF8 in infection and pathology has not been fully clarified. In this study, we determined a new network of ORF8-interacting proteins by performing in silico analysis of the binding proteins against the previously described 47 ORF8-binding proteins. We used as a dataset 431 human protein candidates from Uniprot that physically interacted with 47 ORF8-binding proteins, as identified using STRING. Homology and phylogenetic profile analyses of the protein dataset were performed on 446 eukaryotic species whose genome sequences were available in KEGG OC. Based on the phylogenetic profile results, clustering analysis was performed using Ward's method. Our phylogenetic profiling showed that the interactors of the ORF8-interacting proteins were clustered into three classes that were conserved across chordates (Class 1: 152 proteins), metazoans (Class 2: 163 proteins), and eukaryotes (Class 3: 114 proteins). Following the KEGG pathway analysis, classification of cellular localization, tissue-specific expression analysis, and a literature study on each class of the phylogenetic profiling cluster tree, we predicted that the following: protein members in Class 1 could contribute to COVID-19 pathogenesis via complement and coagulation cascades and could promote sarcoidosis; the members of Class 1 and 2, together, may contribute to the downregulation of Interferon-β; and Class 3 proteins are associated with endoplasmic reticulum stress and the degradation of human leukocyte antigen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hisashi Takatsuka
- Department of Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Japan
| | - Muhamad Fahmi
- Research Department, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan.,Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Japan
| | - Kotono Hamanishi
- Department of Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Japan
| | - Takuya Sakuratani
- Department of Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Japan
| | - Yukihiko Kubota
- Department of Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Japan
| | - Masahiro Ito
- Department of Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Japan
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