Question

Various experiments have shown that the SARS CoV-2 is an RNA virus that enter the human cells through a transmembrane receptor called angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genome sequencing have been cardinal in both diagnosis and research into the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, DNA sequences of both SARS CoV-2 virus and susceptible human hosts are available. As a student of molecular biology and biotechnology, use the above information to answer the following questions.

6.
Given the genome sequences of both SARS CoV-2 virus and a susceptible human host, describe five (5) features that could be used to differentiate between the two genomes.

Answer 1

1. The first distinguishing feature can be of the type of genetic material available. For SARS CoV-2, it is ribonucleic acid(RNA) while all its susceptible human hosts would contain deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as their genetic material.

2. Betacoronaviruses have large genomes, ranging from 26-32 kB while human genome is approximately 3.2 GB.

3. The genome of RNA viruses are able to code a protein called reverse transcriptase, while no such sequence in human genome can encode this enzyme. RTase helps the virus to replicate by making DNA out a RNA template.

4. it has a 5' cap and poly adenylated RNA whereas in humans capping and tailing are post transcriptional modifications on mRNA about to undergo translation.

5. The G+C content is different from that in human genome.