Subjects: Biology >> Virology submitted time 2020-02-14
Abstract： Abstract: In 2019, the 2019 novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has caused the pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan (a city of China). In our previous study, the analytical results showed that both 2019-nCoV and SARS coronavirus belongs to Betacoronavirus subgroup B (BB coronavirus), but have large differences. The most important finding was that the alternative translation of Nankai CDS could produce more than 17 putative proteins, which may be responsible for the host adaption. The genotyping of 13 viruses using the 17 putative proteins revealed the high mutation rate and diversity of betacoronavirus. The present study for the first time reported a very important mutation in the Spike (S) proteins of BB coronavirus. By this mutation, 2019-nCoV acquired a cleavage site for furin enzyme, which is not present in the S proteins of all other BB coronavirus (e.g. SARS coronavirus) except the Mouse Hepatitis coronavirus (MHV). This mutation may increase the efficiency of virus infection into cells, making 2019-nCoV has significantly stronger transmissibility than SARS coronavirus. Because of this mutation, the packing mechanism of the 2019-nCoV may be changed to being more similar to those of MHV, HIV, Ebola virus (EBoV) and some avian influenza viruses, other than those of all other BB coronavirus (e.g. SARS coronavirus) except the Mouse Hepatitis coronavirus (MHV). In addition, we unexpectedly found that some avian influenza viruses acquired a cleavage site for furin enzyme by mutation as 2019-nCoV. Further studies of this mutation will help to reveal the stronger transmissibility of 2019-nCoV and lay foundations for vaccine development and drug design of, but not limited to 2019-nCoV.
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