Publication date: Sep 19, 2023
It has recently been found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) m6A modifications can affect viral replication and function. However, no studies to date have shown a correlation between SARS-CoV-2 m6A modifications and viral pathogenicity. In this study, we analyzed m6A modification in 2,190,667 SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNAs. m6A modifications of SARS-CoV-2 from different lineages, causing mild or severe COVID-19 and showing breakthrough for different vaccines were analyzed to explore correlations with viral pathogenicity. The results suggested that the presence of more m6A modifications in the SARS-CoV-2 N region (positive strand) correlates with weaker pathogenicity. In addition, we identified three m6A modification sites correlating with weak pathogenicity (924 in ORF1ab, 15659 in ORF1ab, 28288 in N, 28633 in N and 29385 in N, 29707 in 3’UTR) and one with strong pathogenicity (74 in 5’UTR). These results provide new information for understanding the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and controlling the virus.
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Coronavirus | breakthrough infection |
| Covid | COVID-19 |
| Mild | m6A |
| Pathogenicity | SARS-CoV-2 |
| β-coronaviruses |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | VO | Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 |
| pathway | KEGG | Viral replication |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | breakthrough infection COVID-19 |