Genome evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and its virological characteristics

So Nakagawa; Takayuki Miyazawa

doi:10.1186/s41232-020-00126-7

Genome evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and its virological characteristics

Inflamm Regen. 2020 Aug 10:40:17. doi: 10.1186/s41232-020-00126-7. eCollection 2020.

Authors

So Nakagawa^{1

2

3}, Takayuki Miyazawa^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Life Science, School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa 259-1193 Japan.
² Institute of Medical Sciences, Tokai University, Kanagawa, Japan.
³ Micro/Nano Technology Center, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Japan.
⁴ Laboratory of Virus-Host Coevolution, Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, 53 Shogoin-Kawaharacho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507 Japan.
⁵ Resilience Research Unit, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19), which originated in China in 2019, shows mild cold and pneumonia symptoms that can occasionally worsen and result in deaths. SARS-CoV-2 was reported to be the causative agent of the disease and was identified as being similar to SARS-CoV, a causative agent of SARS in 2003. In this review, we described the phylogeny of SARS-CoV-2, covering various related studies, in particular, focusing on viruses obtained from horseshoe bats and pangolins that belong to Sarbecovirus, a subgenus of Betacoronavirus. We also describe the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and compare them with other coronaviruses. More than 30,000 genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 are available in the GISAID database as of May 28, 2020. Using the genome sequence data of closely related viruses, the genomic characteristics and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 were extensively studied. However, given the global prevalence of COVID-19 and the large number of associated deaths, further computational and experimental virological analyses are required to fully characterize SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; Comparative genomics; Coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; Viral evolution.

Publication types

Review