1
|
Sohrab SS, Alsaqaf F, Hassan AM, Tolah AM, Bajrai LH, Azhar EI. Genomic Diversity and Recombination Analysis of the Spike Protein Gene from Selected Human Coronaviruses. Biology (Basel) 2024; 13:282. [PMID: 38666894 PMCID: PMC11048170 DOI: 10.3390/biology13040282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2024] [Revised: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Human coronaviruses (HCoVs) are seriously associated with respiratory diseases in humans and animals. The first human pathogenic SARS-CoV emerged in 2002-2003. The second was MERS-CoV, reported from Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 2012, and the third one was SARS-CoV-2, identified from Wuhan City, China, in late December 2019. The HCoV-Spike (S) gene has the highest mutation/insertion/deletion rate and has been the most utilized target for vaccine/antiviral development. In this manuscript, we discuss the genetic diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and recombination patterns of selected HCoVs with emphasis on the S protein gene of MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 to elucidate the possible emergence of new variants/strains of coronavirus in the near future. The findings showed that MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 have significant sequence identity with the selected HCoVs. The phylogenetic tree analysis formed a separate cluster for each HCoV. The recombination pattern analysis showed that the HCoV-NL63-Japan was a probable recombinant. The HCoV-NL63-USA was identified as a major parent while the HCoV-NL63-Netherland was identified as a minor parent. The recombination breakpoints start in the viral genome at the 142 nucleotide position and end at the 1082 nucleotide position with a 99% CI and Bonferroni-corrected p-value of 0.05. The findings of this study provide insightful information about HCoV-S gene diversity, recombination, and evolutionary patterns. Based on these data, it can be concluded that the possible emergence of new strains/variants of HCoV is imminent.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sayed Sartaj Sohrab
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.); (A.M.H.); (A.M.T.); (L.H.B.)
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Fatima Alsaqaf
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.); (A.M.H.); (A.M.T.); (L.H.B.)
| | - Ahmed Mohamed Hassan
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.); (A.M.H.); (A.M.T.); (L.H.B.)
| | - Ahmed Majdi Tolah
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.); (A.M.H.); (A.M.T.); (L.H.B.)
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 21911, Rabigh 344, Saudi Arabia
| | - Leena Hussein Bajrai
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.); (A.M.H.); (A.M.T.); (L.H.B.)
- Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Esam Ibraheem Azhar
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.); (A.M.H.); (A.M.T.); (L.H.B.)
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Sartaj Sohrab S, Aly El-Kafrawy S, Mirza Z, Hassan AM, Alsaqaf F, Ibraheem Azhar E. Delivery of siRNAs against MERS-CoV in Vero and HEK-293 cells: A comparative evaluation of transfection reagents. J King Saud Univ Sci 2023; 35:102540. [PMID: 36624781 PMCID: PMC9814285 DOI: 10.1016/j.jksus.2023.102540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 01/01/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Background A new coronavirus was identified in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2012 and designated as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). To date, this virus has been reported in 27 countries. The virus transmission to humans has already been reported from camels. Currently, there is no vaccine or antiviral therapy available against this virus. Methods The siRNAs were in silico predicted, designed, and chemically synthesized by using the MERS-CoV-orf1ab region as a target. The antiviral activity was experimentally evaluated by delivering the siRNAs with Lipofectamine™ 2000 and JetPRIMER as transfection reagents in both Vero cell and HEK-293-T cell lines at two different concentrations (10.0 nM and 5.0 nM). The Ct value of quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to calculate and determine the reduction of viral RNA level in both cell supernatant and cell lysate isolated from both cell lines. Results The sequence alignment resulted in the selection of highly conserved regions. The orf1ab region was used to predict and design the siRNAs and a total of twenty-one siRNAs were finally selected from four hundred and twenty-six siRNAs generated by online software. Inhibition of viral replication and significant reduction of viral RNA was observed against selected siRNAs in both cell lines at both concentrations. Based on the Ct value, the siRNAs # 11, 12, 18, and 20 were observed to be the best performing in both cell lines at both concentrations. Conclusion Based on the results and data analysis, it is concluded that the use of two different transfection reagents was significantly effective. But the Lipofectamine™ 2000 was found to be a better transfection reagent than the JetPRIMER for the delivery of siRNAs in both cell lines.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sayed Sartaj Sohrab
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Sherif Aly El-Kafrawy
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Zeenat Mirza
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ahmed M Hassan
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Fatima Alsaqaf
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Esam Ibraheem Azhar
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Sohrab SS, Aly El-Kafrawy S, Mirza Z, Hassan AM, Alsaqaf F, Azhar EI. In silico prediction and experimental validation of siRNAs targeting ORF1ab of MERS-CoV in Vero cell line. Saudi J Biol Sci 2021; 28:1348-1355. [PMID: 33519276 PMCID: PMC7833792 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.11.066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2020] [Revised: 11/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus is well known to cause respiratory syndrome and this virus was identified and isolated for the first time from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2012 from infected patient. In this report, we have conducted the in-silico prediction, designing and evaluation of siRNAs targeting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus orf1ab gene to inhibit the virus replication. By using bioinformatics software, total twenty-one functional, off-target reduced siRNA were selected from four hundred and sixty-two siRNAs based on their greater potency and specificity. We have evaluated only seven siRNAs to analyze their performance and efficacy as antivirals by reverse transfection approach in Vero cells. There was no cytotoxicity of siRNAs at various concentrations was observed in Vero cells. Based on the real-time PCR results, better inhibition of viral replication was observed in the siRNA-1 and 4 as compared to other siRNAs. The results generated from this work provided suitable information about the efficacy of siRNAs which encouraged us to further evaluate the remaining siRNAs to determine their inhibitory effect on the virus replication. We concluded that the insilico prediction and designing resulted in the screening of potential siRNAs with better efficiency, and strength. This can be used to develop oligonucleotide-based antiviral therapeutics against MERS-CoV in the near future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sayed Sartaj Sohrab
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Sherif Aly El-Kafrawy
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Zeenat Mirza
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ahmed M Hassan
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Fatima Alsaqaf
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Esam Ibraheem Azhar
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Sohrab SS, El-Kafrawy SA, Mirza Z, Hassan AM, Alsaqaf F, Azhar EI. Designing and evaluation of MERS-CoV siRNAs in HEK-293 cell line. J Infect Public Health 2020; 14:238-243. [PMID: 33493920 PMCID: PMC7771261 DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.12.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2020] [Revised: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The MERS-CoV was identified for the first time from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2012 from a hospitalized patient. This virus has now been spread to 27 countries with a total of 858 deaths and 2494 confirmed cases and has become a serious concern for the human population. Camels are well known for the transmission of the virus to the human population. Methods In this report, we have discussed the designing, prediction, and evaluation of potential siRNAs against the orf1ab gene of MERS-CoV. The online software was used to predict and design the siRNAs and finally, total twenty-one siRNA were filtered out from four hundred and sixty-two sIRNAs as per their scoring and specificity criteria. We have used only ten siRNAs to evaluate their cytotoxicity and efficacy by reverse transfection approach in HEK-293-T cell lines. Results Based on the results and data generated; no cytotoxicity was observed for any siRNAs at various concentrations in HEK-293-T cells. The ct value of real-time PCR showed the inhibition of viral replication in siRNA-1, 2, 4, 6, and 9. The data generated provided the preliminary information and encouraged us to evaluate the remaining siRNAs separately as well as in combination to analyses the replication of MERS-CoV inhibition in other cell lines. Conclusion Based on the results obtained; it is concluded that the prediction of siRNAs using online software resulted in the filtration of potential siRNAs with high accuracy and strength. This technology can be used to design and develop antiviral therapy not only for MERS-CoV but also against other viruses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sayed Sartaj Sohrab
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box, No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
| | - Sherif Aly El-Kafrawy
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box, No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Zeenat Mirza
- Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ahmed M Hassan
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box, No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Fatima Alsaqaf
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box, No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Esam Ibraheem Azhar
- Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Post Box, No-80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| |
Collapse
|