SARS-CoV-2 and ORF3a: Nonsynonymous Mutations, Functional Domains, and Viral Pathogenesis
Elio Issa, Georgi Merhi, Balig Panossian, Tamara Salloum, Sima Tokajian
Abstract
At the surge of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, we detected and identified six functional domains (I to VI) in the SARS-CoV-2 3a protein. Our analysis showed that the functional domains were linked to virulence, infectivity, ion channel formation, and virus release in SARS-CoV-2 3a. Our study also revealed the functional importance of conserved domains across the species barrier. Observations reported in this study merit experimental confirmation.
Topics & Concepts
Nonsynonymous substitutionPathogenesisVirologySevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)GeneticsBiologyMutationViral pathogenesisCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Computational biologyMedicineGeneVirusImmunologyDiseaseViral replicationGenomePathologyInfectious disease (medical specialty)Bacteriophages and microbial interactionsViral gastroenteritis research and epidemiologyAnimal Virus Infections Studies