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Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag

Prashant Pradhan, Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, Akhilesh Mishra, Parul Gupta, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Manoj Balakrishnan Menon, James Gomes, Perumal Vivekanandan, Bishwajit Kundu
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871
Prashant Pradhan
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
2Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi, New Delhi-110019, India
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Ashutosh Kumar Pandey
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
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Akhilesh Mishra
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
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Parul Gupta
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
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Praveen Kumar Tripathi
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
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Manoj Balakrishnan Menon
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
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James Gomes
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
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Perumal Vivekanandan
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
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  • For correspondence: bkundu@bioschool.iitd.ac.in vperumal@bioschool.iitd.ac.in
Bishwajit Kundu
1Kusuma School of biological sciences, Indian institute of technology, New Delhi-110016, India
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  • For correspondence: bkundu@bioschool.iitd.ac.in vperumal@bioschool.iitd.ac.in
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Abstract

We are currently witnessing a major epidemic caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The evolution of 2019-nCoV remains elusive. We found 4 insertions in the spike glycoprotein (S) which are unique to the 2019-nCoV and are not present in other coronaviruses. Importantly, amino acid residues in all the 4 inserts have identity or similarity to those in the HIV-1 gp120 or HIV-1 Gag. Interestingly, despite the inserts being discontinuous on the primary amino acid sequence, 3D-modelling of the 2019-nCoV suggests that they converge to constitute the receptor binding site. The finding of 4 unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV, all of which have identity /similarity to amino acid residues in key structural proteins of HIV-1 is unlikely to be fortuitous in nature. This work provides yet unknown insights on 2019-nCoV and sheds light on the evolution and pathogenicity of this virus with important implications for diagnosis of this virus.

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Posted January 31, 2020.
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Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag
Prashant Pradhan, Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, Akhilesh Mishra, Parul Gupta, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Manoj Balakrishnan Menon, James Gomes, Perumal Vivekanandan, Bishwajit Kundu
bioRxiv 2020.01.30.927871; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871
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Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag
Prashant Pradhan, Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, Akhilesh Mishra, Parul Gupta, Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Manoj Balakrishnan Menon, James Gomes, Perumal Vivekanandan, Bishwajit Kundu
bioRxiv 2020.01.30.927871; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871

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