Question

I have two questions based on the Genome of SARS-CoV-2. I would love to see your sources that you used as well, thanks! (I will leave a positive review.)

1. What proteins are encoded in the SARS-CoV-2 genome? What is the general function of each?

2. What are genomic hotspots? Considering COVID-19 is caused by a novel virus among humans, what process(es) might these areas of the genome be critical in enabling?

Answer 1

1. SARS-CoV-2 has four structural proteins (top): the E and M proteins, which form the viral envelope; the N protein (detail not shown), which binds to the virus’s RNA genome; and the S protein, which binds to human receptors. The viral genome consists of more than 29,000 bases and encodes 29 proteins (bottom). The nonstructural proteins get expressed as two long polypeptides, the longer of which gets chopped up by the virus’s main protease. This group of proteins includes the main protease (Nsp5) and RNA polymerase (Nsp12). Of the 29 SARS-CoV-2 proteins, four make up the virus’s actual structure, including the S protein. One group of the other 25 coronavirus proteins regulates how the virus assembles copies of itself and how it sneaks past the host immune system. These so-called nonstructural proteins are expressed as two huge polyproteins that are then cleaved into 16 smaller proteins. An enzyme called the main protease, which performs 11 of those cleavages, is also a highly promising drug target. Hilgenfeld and his colleagues recently reported the structure of the main protease and identified an inhibitor that can block it.

2. Genomic Hotspots: Recombination hotspots are regions of the genome that undergo recombination at significantly higher rates than average and contribute to genomic diversity within and between populations.