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Review
. 2021 May 28;2(2):100116.
doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100116. Epub 2021 May 11.

Genomic variation, origin tracing, and vaccine development of SARS-CoV-2: A systematic review

Tianbao Li  1   2   3 , Tao Huang  4 , Cheng Guo  5 , Ailan Wang  2   3 , Xiaoli Shi  2   3 , Xiaofei Mo  2   3 , Qingqing Lu  2   3 , Jing Sun  6 , Tingting Hui  2 , Geng Tian  2   3 , Leyi Wang  7 , Jialiang Yang  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Genomic variation, origin tracing, and vaccine development of SARS-CoV-2: A systematic review

Tianbao Li et al. Innovation (Camb). .

Abstract

COVID-19 has spread globally to over 200 countries with more than 40 million confirmed cases and one million deaths as of November 1, 2020. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, leading to COVID-19, shows extremely high rates of infectivity and replication, and can result in pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, or even mortality. SARS-CoV-2 has been found to continue to rapidly evolve, with several genomic variants emerging in different regions throughout the world. In addition, despite intensive study of the spike protein, its origin, and molecular mechanisms in mediating host invasion are still only partially resolved. Finally, the repertoire of drugs for COVID-19 treatment is still limited, with several candidates still under clinical trial and no effective therapeutic yet reported. Although vaccines based on either DNA/mRNA or protein have been deployed, their efficacy against emerging variants requires ongoing study, with multivalent vaccines supplanting the first-generation vaccines due to their low efficacy against new strains. Here, we provide a systematic review of studies on the epidemiology, immunological pathogenesis, molecular mechanisms, and structural biology, as well as approaches for drug or vaccine development for SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; SARS-CoV-2 vaccine; infection mechanism; origin tracing.

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Conflict of interest statement

T.L., A.W., X.S., X.M., Q.L., T.H., G.T., and J.Y. are currently employed by Geneis Beijing Co., Ltd. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
A summary of the epidemiology, molecular docking, genetic evolution, and genome structure of SARS-CoV-2 (A) Comparison of the characteristics between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV; (B) genome structure and protein modeling of SARS-CoV-2; and (C) complex structure of human ACE2 binding with RBD of SARS-CoV-2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The phylogenetic history of the SARS-CoV-2 strains based on 3,991 genomes Colors in the legend represent each particular strain of SARS-CoV-2. The genomes of 3,991 SARS-CoV-2 strains were clustered into 12 classes, each of which showed similar genomic variation pattern.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The mechanism of COVID-19 infection and the amplification process of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the response of the human immune system to the virus
Figure 4
Figure 4
Timeline of COVID-19 disease and the progress of vaccine development
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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