Abstract
Open reading frame 8 (ORF8) protein is one of the most evolving accessory proteins in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It was previously reported that the ORF8 protein inhibits presentation of viral antigens by the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) and interacts with host factors involved in pulmonary inflammation. The ORF8 protein assists SARS-CoV-2 to evade immunity and replication. Among many contributing mutations, Q27STOP, a mutation in the ORF8 protein defines the B.1.1.7 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, which is engendering the second wave of COVID-19. In the present study, 47 unique truncated ORF8 proteins (T-ORF8) due to the Q27STOP mutations were identified among 49055 available B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 sequences. The results show that only one of the 47 T-ORF8 variants spread to over 57 geo-locations in North America, and other continents which includes Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. Based on various quantitative features such as amino acid homology, polar/non-polar sequence homology, Shannon entropy conservation, and other physicochemical properties of all specific 47 T-ORF8 protein variants, a collection of nine possible T-ORF8 unique variants were defined. The question of whether T-ORF8 variants work similarly to ORF8 has yet to be investigated. A positive response to the question could exacerbate future COVID-19 waves, necessitating severe containment measures.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Email addresses: vaishnavikodakandla13{at}gmail.com (Vaishnavi Kodakandla), lradwan{at}kau.edu.sa (Elrashdy M. Redwan), lundstromkenneth{at}gmail.com (Kenneth Lundstrom), pabitrapalchoudhury{at}gmail.com (Pabitra Pal Choudhury), mohamedt1{at}uthscsa.edu (Tarek Mohamed Abd El-Aziz), kazuo.takayama{at}cira.kyoto-u.ac.jp (Kazuo Takayama), ramesh.kandimalla{at}gmail.com (Ramesh Kandimalla), manavamos{at}gmail.com (Amos Lal), angel.serrano{at}ucv.es (Ángel Serrano-Aroca), gkazad{at}patnauniversity.ac.in (Gajendra Kumar Azad), alaaj{at}yu.edu.jo (Alaa A. A. Aljabali), giorgio.palu{at}unipd.it (Giorgio Palu), gchauhan{at}tec.mx (Gaurav Chauhan), pariseadadi{at}gmail.com (Parise Adadi), m.tambuwala{at}ulster.ac.uk (Murtaza Tambuwala), brufskyam{at}upmc.edu (Adam M. Brufsky), wagner.baetas{at}gmail.com (Wagner Baetas-da-Cruz), dr.barh{at}gmail.com (Debmalya Barh), nbazan{at}lsuhsc.edu
One new result with Figure 5 has been included.