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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.01.30.927871

Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag

Pradhan, P.·Pandey, A. K.·Mishra, A.·Gupta, P.·Tripathi, P. K.·Menon, M. B.·Gomes, J.·Vivekanandan, P.·Kundu, B.
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Abstract

We are currently witnessing a major epidemic caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The evolution of 2019-nCoV remains elusive. We found 4 insertions in the spike glycoprotein (S) which are unique to the 2019-nCoV and are not present in other coronaviruses. Importantly, amino acid residues in all the 4 inserts have identity or similarity to those in the HIV-1 gp120 or HIV-1 Gag. Interestingly, despite the inserts being discontinuous on the primary amino acid sequence, 3D-modelling of the 2019-nCoV suggests that they converge to constitute the receptor binding site. The finding of 4 unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV, all of which have identity /similarity to amino acid residues in key structural proteins of HIV-1 is unlikely to be fortuitous in nature. This work provides yet unknown insights on 2019-nCoV and sheds light on the evolution and pathogenicity of this virus with important implications for diagnosis of this virus.

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Pradhan, P., Pandey, A. K., Mishra, A., Gupta, P., Tripathi, P. K., Menon, M. B., Gomes, J., Vivekanandan, P., Kundu, B.. 2020-01-31. Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871

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