The importance of accessory protein variants in the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2
Sk Sarif Hassan, Pingla Thana Mahavidyalaya, Maligram, India
Pabitra Pal Choudhury, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Guy W. Dayhoff II, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Alaa A. A. Aljabali, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
Bruce D. Uhal, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Kenneth Lundstrom, PanTherapeutics, Lutry, Switzerland
Nima Rezaei, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Damiano Pizzol, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation - Khartoum, Al Amarat, Sudan
Parise Adadi, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Amos Lal, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Antonio Soares, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
Tarek Mohamed Abd El-Aziz, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
Adam M. Brufsky, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Gajendra Kumar Azad, Patna University, Patna, Bihar, India
Samendra P. Sherchan, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Wagner Baetas-da-Cruz, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Kazuo Takayama, Kyoto University, Japan
Angel Serrano-Aroca, Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente M'artir, Valencia, Spain
Gaurav Chauhan, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Giorgio Palu, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Yogendra Kumar Mishra, University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg, Denmark
Debmalya Barh, Institute of Integrative Omics and Applied Biotechnology (IIOAB), Nonakuri, Purba Medinipur, WB, India
Raner Jose Santana Silva, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), Ilheus, BA, Brazil
Bruno Silva Andrade, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia (UESB), Jequié, Brazil
Vasco Azevedo, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Aristoteles Góes-Neto, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Nicolas G. Bazan, LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans
Elrashdy M. Redwan, King Abdulaz University, Saudi Arabia
Murtaza Tambuwala, Ulster University, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, Ireland
Vladimir N. Uversky, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS- CoV-2) with an estimated fatality rate of less than 1%. The SARS-CoV-2 accessory proteins ORF3a, ORF6, ORF7a, ORF7b, ORF8, and ORF10 possess putative functions to manipulate host immune mechanisms. These involve interferons, which appear as a consensus function, immune signaling receptor NLRP3 (NLR family pyrin domain-containing 3) inflammasome, and inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and are critical in COVID-19 pathology. Outspread variations of each of the six accessory proteins were observed across six continents of all complete SARS-CoV-2 proteomes based on the data reported before November 2020. A decreasing order of percentage of unique variations in the accessory proteins was determined as ORF3a > ORF8 > ORF7a > ORF6 > ORF10 > ORF7b across all continents. The highest and lowest unique variations of ORF3a were observed in South America and Oceania, respectively. These findings suggest that the wide variations in accessory proteins seem to affect the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2.
