Open AccessRaman Molecular Fingerprints of SARS‐CoV‐2 British Variant and the Concept of Raman Barcode
Author(s) -
Pezzotti Giuseppe,
Boschetto Francesco,
Ohgitani Eriko,
Fujita Yuki,
ShinYa Masaharu,
Adachi Tetsuya,
Yamamoto Toshiro,
Kanamura Narisato,
Marin Elia,
Zhu Wenliang,
Nishimura Ichiro,
Mazda Osam
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
advanced science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.388
H-Index - 100
ISSN - 2198-3844
DOI - 10.1002/advs.202103287
Subject(s) - raman spectroscopy , barcode , amino acid , rna , covid-19 , chemistry , conformational isomerism , nucleic acid , mutation , genetics , biology , computational biology , biochemistry , gene , medicine , molecule , physics , computer science , disease , organic chemistry , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , optics , operating system
The multiple mutations of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) virus have created variants with structural differences in both their spike and nucleocapsid proteins. While the functional relevance of these mutations is under continuous scrutiny, current findings have documented their detrimental impact in terms of affinity with host receptors, antibody resistance, and diagnostic sensitivity. Raman spectra collected on two British variant sub‐types found in Japan (QK002 and QHN001) are compared with that of the original Japanese isolate (JPN/TY/WK‐521), and found bold vibrational differences. These included: i) fractions of sulfur‐containing amino acid rotamers, ii) hydrophobic interactions of tyrosine phenol ring, iii) apparent fractions of RNA purines and pyrimidines, and iv) protein secondary structures. Building upon molecular scale results and their statistical validations, the authors propose to represent virus variants with a barcode specially tailored on Raman spectrum. Raman spectroscopy enables fast identification of virus variants, while the Raman barcode facilitates electronic recordkeeping and translates molecular characteristics into information rapidly accessible by users.