Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34855795›Full record

ArticlePloS one2021

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein displays sequence similarities with paramyxovirus surface proteins; a bioinformatics study.

Ehsan Ahmadi, Mohammad Reza Zabihi, Ramin Hosseinzadeh, Leila Mohamed Khosroshahi, Farshid Noorbakhsh

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Identification, propagation and molecular characterization of SARS-CoV-2 delta variant isolated from Egyptian COVID-19 patients.Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases · 2022
    Article
  8. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Ehsan AhmadiDepartment of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad Reza ZabihiDepartment of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ramin HosseinzadehDepartment of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Leila Mohamed KhosroshahiDepartment of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Farshid NoorbakhshDepartment of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.ORCID 0000-0003-4304-0048
Tehran University of Medical Sciences · IRKhatam University · IR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and associated COVID-19 pandemic have posed a great challenge for the scientific community. In this study, we performed bioinformatic analyses on SARS-CoV-2 protein sequences, trying to unravel potential molecular similarities between this newly emerged pathogen with non-coronavirus ssRNA viruses. Comparing the proteins of SARS-CoV-2 with non-coronavirus positive and negative strand ssRNA viruses revealed multiple sequence similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and non-coronaviruses, including similarities between RNA-dependent RNA-polymerases and helicases (two highly-conserved proteins). We also observed similarities between SARS-CoV-2 surface (i.e. spike) protein with paramyxovirus fusion proteins. This similarity was restricted to a segment of spike protein S2 subunit which is involved in cell fusion. We next analyzed spike proteins from SARS-CoV-2 "variants of concern" (VOCs) and "variants of interests" (VOIs) and found that some of these variants show considerably higher spike-fusion similarity with paramyxoviruses. The 'spike-fusion' similarity was also observed for some pathogenic coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2. Epitope analysis using experimentally verified data deposited in Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) revealed that several B cell epitopes as well as T cell and MHC binding epitopes map within the spike-fusion similarity region. These data indicate that there might be a degree of convergent evolution between SARS-CoV-2 and paramyxovirus surface proteins which could be of pathogenic and immunological importance.

Indexed as

EpitopesHumansParamyxoviridaePhylogenyProtein Structure, TertiarySARS-CoV-2Spike Glycoprotein, CoronavirusViral Fusion ProteinsEpitopesSpike Glycoprotein, Coronavirusspike protein, SARS-CoV-2Viral Fusion Proteins

Identifiers

PMID34855795
PMCPMC8639087
OpenAlexW3215398413

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.