Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2: From Gene Structure to Pathogenic Mechanisms and Potential Therapy

Jun Wu; Xiaohui Yuan; Bing Wang; Rui Gu; Wei Li; Xuemei Xiang; Lijun Tang; Hongyu Sun

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.01576

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2: From Gene Structure to Pathogenic Mechanisms and Potential Therapy

Front Microbiol. 2020 Jul 3:11:1576. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01576. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jun Wu^{1

2}, Xiaohui Yuan^{1

2}, Bing Wang^{1

2}, Rui Gu¹, Wei Li¹, Xuemei Xiang¹, Lijun Tang^{1

2}, Hongyu Sun^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command, Chengdu, China.
² College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a newly emerging respiratory virus with high morbidity, which was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by World Health Organization (WHO). COVID-19 has triggered a series of threats to global public health. Even worse, new cases of COVID-19 infection are still increasing rapidly. Therefore, it is imperative that various effective vaccines and drugs should be developed to prevent and treat COVID-19 and reduce the serious impact on human beings. For this purpose, detailed information about the pathogenesis of COVID-19 at the cellular and molecular levels is urgently needed. In this review, we summarized the current understanding on gene structure, protein function, and pathogenic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. Based on the above, we refined the correlations among gene structure, protein function, and pathogenic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. Importantly, we further discussed potential therapeutic targets, aiming to accelerate the advanced design and development of vaccines and therapeutic drugs against COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; gene structure; pathogenic mechanisms; potential therapeutic targets; protein function.

Publication types

Review