Regulatory variants of APOBEC3 genes potentially associate with COVID-19 severity in populations with African

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Targeted Next-generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics Pipeline to Evaluate Genetic Determinants of Constitutional Disease
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Targeted Next-generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics Pipeline to Evaluate Genetic Determinants of Constitutional Disease

Published on: April 4, 2018

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Ke Zhang1, Fang Chen1, Hu-Yan Shen1

  • 1The Key and Characteristic Laboratory of Modern Pathogenicity Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, 561113, China.

Scientific Reports
|December 17, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Genetic variants in APOBEC3 genes may increase COVID-19 hospitalization risk in African populations due to higher SARS-CoV-2 mutation rates. Further research is needed to confirm these findings on coronavirus evolution.

Area of Science:

  • Genetics
  • Virology
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has had a profound global impact.
  • Ongoing SARS-CoV-2 mutations complicate control efforts, with C>U nucleotide substitutions linked to human APOBEC3 gene editing.
  • Specific SARS-CoV-2 variants like Beta and Omicron, first observed in South Africa, exhibit high mutation rates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the hypothesis that APOBEC3 gene variants in African populations contribute to higher SARS-CoV-2 mutation rates.
  • To identify functional APOBEC3 gene variants associated with COVID-19 hospitalization in the African population.

Main Methods:

  • Integrated data from the 1000 Genomes Project, Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), and Host Genetics Initiative (HGI).
  • Analyzed genetic data to find single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near APOBEC3 genes.
  • Compared associations between identified SNPs and COVID-19 hospitalization across different populations.

Main Results:

  • Identified potential functional SNPs near APOBEC3 genes associated with COVID-19 hospitalization.
  • These associations were specific to the African population and not observed in other populations.
  • Suggests a potential role of APOBEC3 genes in SARS-CoV-2 evolution within African populations.

Conclusions:

  • APOBEC3 genes may influence SARS-CoV-2 evolution and COVID-19 outcomes in African populations.
  • The findings offer new insights into the genetic factors affecting viral mutation rates.
  • Further replication studies are necessary to validate these results.

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