Evidence for mutations in SARS-CoV-2 Italian isolates potentially affecting virus transmission.

Domenico Benvenuto, Ayse Banu Demir, Marta Giovanetti, Martina Bianchi, Silvia Angeletti, Stefano Pascarella, Roberto Cauda, Massimo Ciccozzi, Antonio Cassone

Journal: Journal of medical virology 2020;92(10):2232-2237

PMID: 32492183

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Abstract

Italy is the first western country suffering heavy severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission and disease impact after coronavirus disease-2019 pandemia started in China. Even though the presence of mutations on spike glycoprotein and nucleocapsid in Italian isolates has been reported, the potential impact of these mutations on viral transmission has not been evaluated. We have compared SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from Italian patients with virus sequences from Chinese patients. We focussed upon three nonsynonymous mutations of genes coding for S(one) and N (two) viral proteins present in Italian isolates and absent in Chinese ones, using various bioinformatics tools. Amino acid analysis and changes in three-dimensional protein structure suggests the mutations reduce protein stability and, particularly for S1 mutation, the enhanced torsional ability of the molecule could favor virus binding to cell receptor(s). This theoretical interpretation awaits experimental and clinical confirmation.

Address: Department of Medical Statistics and Molecular Epidemiology, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, Rome, Italy.; Department of Medical Biology, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey.; Deparment of Flavivirus, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brasil.; Department of Biochemical Sciences "A. Rossi Fanelli", University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.; Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, Rome, Italy.; Department of Malattie Infettive - Fondazione Policlinico Universitario "A. Gemelli" IRCCS, Rome, Italy.; Department of Healthcare Surveillance and Bioethics, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.; Department of Genomics, Genetics and Biology, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.

DOI: 10.1002/jmv.26104

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MeSH Terms: Amino Acid Substitution, COVID-19, China, Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins, Evolution, Molecular, Genome, Viral, Humans, Italy, Models, Molecular, Molecular Epidemiology, Mutation, Pandemics, Phosphoproteins, Phylogeny, Protein Conformation, alpha-Helical, Protein Conformation, beta-Strand, SARS-CoV-2, Severity of Illness Index, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus, Travel, Virus Replication