Genetic traits and variability of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19

Identifier:  TFG:3073

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG3073

Authors:  Campos Martínez, Carolina

Abstract:
The previous SARS-CoV outbreak has very similar characteristics to the new SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Both started in two food markets probably without sanitary control from zoonotic transfer between species. Epidemiologically they have started in a similar way, although they have evolved differently: in the second case, the spread of the virus has been indisputably more extensive, probably due to changes in the intrinsic characteristics of the virus. As for its genomic structure, its organization is very similar and many of the regions that determine the pathogenic capacity are preserved, but with some differences in the spike protein, which could be the reason why the virus has optimized its ability to infect. In terms of treatment, both are responsible for generating severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) so palliative treatments used for SARS-CoV could be considered for SARS-CoV-2. We present a small study of the nucleotide mutations present in 28 sequences of SARS-CoV-2 from patients at the Vall d'Hebrón hospital in Barcelona, the amino acid changes and the type of mutation generated in the peptide sequence. The results show that the most variable region of the genome affects the polyprotein 1a and the nucleocapsid protein. The mutations found correspond to the results of previous studies but vary in frequency.