Title:
Genomic determinants of pathogenicity in SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses
Authors:
Ayal B. Gussow, Noam Auslander, Guilhem Faure, Yuri I. Wolf, Feng Zhang & Eugene V. Koonin
Published:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 10 June 2020
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/09/2008176117
Significance:
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is an urgent, global threat. Here we analyze the genome of the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, along with other members of the coronavirus family. Our analysis identifies crucial genomic features that are unique to SARS-CoV-2 and two other deadly coronaviruses, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. These features correlate with the high fatality rate of these coronaviruses as well as their ability to switch hosts from animals to humans. The identified features could represent crucial elements of coronavirus virulence, and allow for detecting animal coronaviruses that have the potential to make the jump to humans in the future.