Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 6, 2025

Author Spotlight: Studying Host-Virus Interactions with Pseudotyped Viruses
05:49

Author Spotlight: Studying Host-Virus Interactions with Pseudotyped Viruses

Published on: November 21, 2023

2.2K

Benchmarking evolutionary tinkering underlying human-viral molecular mimicry shows multiple host pulmonary-arterial

A J Venkatakrishnan1, Nikhil Kayal1, Praveen Anand2

  • 1nference, Cambridge, MA USA.

Cell Death Discovery
|October 7, 2020
PubMed

Insights

SARS-CoV-2 uses molecular mimicry, sharing human peptides to potentially evade immune responses. This study identifies novel mimicry targets in human proteins, offering insights into virus evolution and COVID-19 pathogenesis.

Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Immunology
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Molecular mimicry, where viral peptides resemble host proteins, is a key factor in viral evolution and immune evasion.
  • Understanding SARS-CoV-2's molecular mimicry is crucial for deciphering its pathogenesis and developing effective countermeasures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and characterize human peptides mimicked by SARS-CoV-2.
  • To benchmark SARS-CoV-2 mimicry against other human viruses.
  • To investigate the potential immunological and pathogenic implications of this mimicry.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of SARS-CoV-2 proteome against the human reference proteome to identify shared 8-mer/9-mer peptides.
  • Benchmarking viral-human peptide identity across various viruses.
  • Analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data to assess gene expression in relevant human tissues.
  • Identification of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) binding peptides.

Main Results:

  • Identified 33 distinct 8-mer/9-mer peptides shared between SARS-CoV-2 and human proteome.
  • Discovered 20 novel human peptides mimicked by SARS-CoV-2, not seen in previous coronaviruses.
  • Found mimicry of human PAM, ANXA7, PGD, and ALOX5AP proteins, with genes significantly expressed in lung and artery tissues.
  • Detected shared 8-mer peptides between human and coronaviridae helicases, potentially impacting nucleic acid unwinding.

Conclusions:

  • SARS-CoV-2 engages in molecular mimicry with human proteins, including novel targets implicated in COVID-19 pathogenesis.
  • The extent of mimicry is comparable to other human viruses, but novel targets suggest unique evolutionary pressures.
  • Findings provide a computational framework for future studies on viral evolution, zoonosis, and herd immunity.
Keywords:
Environmental microbiologyProteomics

More Related Videos

Author Spotlight: Advancing Antiviral Strategies Through Novel Immunocapture and Mass Spectrometry Techniques08:07

Author Spotlight: Advancing Antiviral Strategies Through Novel Immunocapture and Mass Spectrometry Techniques

Published on: January 12, 2024

1.1K
Production of a SARS-CoV-2 Virus-Like-Particle System to Investigate Viral Life Cycles In Vitro09:26

Production of a SARS-CoV-2 Virus-Like-Particle System to Investigate Viral Life Cycles In Vitro

Published on: June 6, 2025

904

Related Concept Videos

Viral Mutations00:36

Viral Mutations

A mutation is a change in the sequence of bases of DNA or RNA in a genome. Some mutations occur during replication of the genome due to errors made by the polymerase enzymes that replicate DNA or RNA. Unlike DNA polymerase, RNA polymerase is prone to errors because it is not capable of “proofreading” its work. Viruses with RNA-based genomes, like HIV, therefore accrue mutations faster than viruses with DNA-based genomes. Because mutation and recombination provide the raw material...
38.9K
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs01:05

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs

A single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP is a single nucleotide variation at a specific genomic position in a large population. It is the most prevalent type of sequence variation found in the human genome. Point mutations that occur in more than 1% of the population qualify as SNPs. These are present once every 1000 nucleotides on an average in the human genome. Replacement of a purine with another purine (A/G) or a pyrimidine with another pyrimidine (C/T) is known as a transition. In contrast,...
17.6K
Viral Recombination00:57

Viral Recombination

Cells are sometimes infected by more than one virus at once. When two viruses disassemble to expose their genomes for replication in the same cell, similar regions of their genomes can pair together and exchange sequences in a process called recombination. Alternatively, viruses with segmented genomes can swap segments in a process called reassortment.
24.6K
Conjugated Proteins02:50

Conjugated Proteins

Simple proteins and protein complexes contain only amino acids. In contrast, many other proteins, called conjugated proteins, covalently bond with non-protein moieties.
Nucleoproteins are protein complexes that contain nucleic acids, categorized as deoxyribonucleoproteins (DNPs) or ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) respectively. The nucleosome is a typical example of a DNP where nuclear DNA is associated with histone proteins. The major antigen for the Covid-19 virus SARS-CoV is an RNP that is critical...
24.9K
Leaky Scanning02:28

Leaky Scanning

During most eukaryotic translation processes, the small 40S ribosome subunit scans an mRNA from its 5' end until it encounters the first start AUG codon. The large 60S ribosomal subunit then joins the smaller one to initiate protein synthesis. The location of the translation initiation is largely determined by the nucleotides near the start codon as there may be multiple translation initiation sites present on the mRNA.  Marilyn Kozak discovered that the sequence RCCAUGG (where R...
5.5K