Open AccessMapping the Nonstructural Transmembrane Proteins of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2
Author(s) -
Sunil Thomas
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of computational biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1557-8666
pISSN - 1066-5277
DOI - 10.1089/cmb.2020.0627
Subject(s) - biology , orfs , coronavirus , transmembrane protein , virology , genome , gene , open reading frame , genetics , computational biology , disease , covid-19 , medicine , peptide sequence , infectious disease (medical specialty) , receptor , pathology
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for the disease coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) has wreaked havoc on the health and economy of humanity. In addition, the disease is observed in domestic and wild animals. The disease has impacted directly and indirectly every corner of the planet. Currently, there are no effective therapies for the treatment of COVID-19. Vaccination to protect against COVID-19 started in December 2020. SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped virus with a single-stranded RNA genome of 29.8 kb. More than two-thirds of the genome comprise Orf1ab encoding 16 nonstructural proteins (nsps) followed by mRNAs encoding structural proteins, spike (S), envelop (E), membrane (M), and nucleocapsid (N). These genes are interspaced with several accessory genes (open reading frames [Orfs] 3a, 3b, 6, 7a, 7b, 8, 9b, 9c, and 10). The functions of these proteins are of particular interest for understanding the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2. Several of the nsps (nsp3, nsp4, and nsp6) and Orf3a are transmembrane proteins involved in regulating the host immunity, modifying host cell organelles for viral replication and escape and hence considered drug targets. In this paper, we report mapping the transmembrane structure of the nsps of SARS-CoV-2.