In Search of Novel Coronavirus 19 Therapeutic Targets

Abstract

Novel Coronavirus 2019 pandemic has become a nightmare of the year 2019-20. It is affecting both health and wealth across the world. It has become a great challenge for the entire human race to protect itself from the viral outbreak. This is time for the entire Scientific community to come together and undertake studies and contribute in conducting research on CoVID 19 and possible solutions to defeat this killer, million times smaller than humans, as even minute information can also play a very important role in fighting against the Virus. The current work is aimed to analyze the genome of CoVID 19 and compare its evolutionary relation with the other species of viruses that are known to cause respiratory disorders.

Viral membrane proteins and proteins involved in replication of viral genetic material play an integral part in virus– host interactions. These classes of protein are often the best candidates for antiviral drug and vaccine targets. Disrupting these proteins may be an effective means to inhibit the growth and disintegrate the virus. Taking advantage of the recent release of some of the gene sequences and the genome of Novel Coronavirus 2019 by NCBI GenBank and the agility provided by Insilico Bioinformatics tools, the current work aimed to study the evolutionally conserved regions of the genome of the CoVid 19. The comparison of the complete genome and specifically the coding gene sequence for membrane proteins and proteins involved in viral replication of MN908947.3 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 isolate Wuhan-Hu-1, complete genome- 2019 (better known as Covid 19), Isolated from China, was conducted. 25 viruses including commonly known respiratory tract pathogen were selected for the current study. Sequence similarity analysis and comparative study results revealed that the viral membrane protein, M protein Shares similarity only with the other corona group of viruses and (MERS) and not with HCOV. Moreover, the complete genome comparison revealed the presence of a specific conserved gene region shared by MERS and CoVid 19, which was further analyzed. Identifying the commonly shared gene regions can immensely aid in identifying druggable target and help in development of appropriate therapy protocol or medication for 2019 novel Coronavirus.