Research paper
Genomic diversity and molecular dynamics interaction on mutational variances among RB domains of SARS-CoV-2 interplay drug inactivation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2021.105128Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • The study revealed high similarity among SARS-CoV2 sequences and and also presence of mutations in all the sequences.

  • Molecular evolutionary modeling indicated TN93+G as the best nucleotide substitution model.

  • Three mutations, Val/ Phe367, Val/ Leu382 and Ala/ Val522, were found in RBD domain.

  • RBD with mutation Val/Leu382 had the lowest binding affinity with remdesivir.

  • Considerable positive selection took place during transmission of COVID-19 among people.

Abstract

The scientific community has been releasing whole genomic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 to facilitate the investigation of molecular features and evolutionary history. We retrieved 36 genomes of 18 prevalent countries of Asia, Europe and America for genomic diversity and mutational analysis. Besides, we studied mutations in the RBD regions of Spike (S) proteins to analyze the drug efficiency against these mutations. In this research, phylogenenetic analysis, evolutionary modeling, substitution pattern analysis, molecular docking, dynamics simulation, etc. were performed. The genomic sequences showed >99% similarity with the reference sequence of China.TN93 + G was predicted as a best nucleotide substitution model. It was revealed that effective transition from the co-existing SARS genome to the SARS-CoV-2 and a noticeable positive selection in the SARS-CoV-2 genomes occurred. Moreover, three mutations in RBD domain, Val/ Phe367, Val/ Leu 382 and Ala/ Val522, were discovered in the genomes from Netherland, Bangladesh and the USA, respectively. Molecular docking and dynamics study showed RBD with mutation Val/Leu382 had the lowest binding affinity with remdesivir. In conclusion, the SARS-CoV-2 genomes are similar, but multiple degrees of transitions and transversions occurred. The mutations cause a significant conformational change, which are needed to be investigated during drug and vaccine development.

Keywords

SARS-CoV-2
Phylogenomic diversity
Mutational analysis
S protein
Remdesivir
Molecular dynamics simulation

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These authors contributed equally.