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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.07.20.210534

SARS-CoV2 spike protein displays biologically significant similarities with paramyxovirus surface proteins; a bioinformatics study

Ahmadi, E.·Zabihi, M. R.·Hosseinzadeh, R.·Noorbakhsh, F.
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Abstract

Recent emergence of SARS-CoV2 and associated COVID-19 pandemic has posed a great challenge for the scientific community. Understanding various aspects of SARS-CoV2 biology, virulence and pathogenesis as well as determinants of immune response have become a global research priority. In this study, we performed bioinformatic analyses on SAR-CoV2 protein sequences, trying to unravel biologically important similarities between this newly emerged virus with other RNA viruses. Comparing the proteome of SARS-CoV2 with major positive and negative strand ssRNA viruses showed significant homologies between SARS-CoV2 spike protein with pathogenic paramyxovirus fusion proteins. This spike-fusion homology was not limited to SARS-CoV2 and it existed for some other pathogenic coronaviruses; nonetheless, SARS-CoV2 spike-fusion homology was orders of magnitude stronger than homologies observed for other known coronaviruses. Moreover, this homology did not seem to be a consequence of general ssRNA virus phylogenetic relations. We also explored potential immunological significance of this spike-fusion homology. Spike protein epitope analysis using experimentally verified data deposited in Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) revealed that the majority of spikes T cell epitopes as well as many B cell and MHC binding epitopes map within the spike-fusion homology region. Overall, our data indicate that there might be a relation between SARS-CoV2 and paramyxoviruses at the level of their surface proteins and this relation could be of crucial immunological importance.

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Ahmadi, E., Zabihi, M. R., Hosseinzadeh, R., Noorbakhsh, F.. 2020-07-20. SARS-CoV2 spike protein displays biologically significant similarities with paramyxovirus surface proteins; a bioinformatics study. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.20.210534

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