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In an honors course on “Omics Sciences,” draft genome sequences of Chryseobacterium elymi KCTC 22547T, Chryseobacterium flavum KCTC 12877T, Chryseobacterium hispanicum KCTC 22104T, Chryseobacterium lathyri KCTC 22544T, “Candidatus Chryseobacterium massiliae” CCUG 51329T, Chryseobacterium piscium CCUG 51923T, and Chryseobacterium rhizosphaerae KCTC 22548T were generated to facilitate phylogenomic comparisons within the genus.

Strain 7_F195T was previously isolated from chicken feather waste collected from an abattoir in Bloemfontein, South Africa. A polyphasic approach was followed to determine if strain 7_F195T belongs to the genus Chryseobacterium and if the organism can be classified as a new species. The nearest neighbours, based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values (indicated in parentheses), were Chryseobacterium flavum KCTC 12877T (98.42 %), Chryseobacterium indologenes LMG 8337T (98.24 %) and Chryseobacterium gleum ATCC 35910T (97.71 %). Genome sequencing revealed a genome size of 4 796 535 bp and a DNA G+C content of 38.6 mol%. The ANI values of strain 7_F195T compared to C. flavum , C. indologenes and C. gleum were 81.45, 81.86 and 82.38 %, respectively. The digital DNA–DNA hybridization values for strain 7_F195T with C. flavum , C. indologenes and C. gleum were 23.7, 23.7 and 24.9 %, respectively. Notable phenotypic differences include the presence of urease activity in C. indologenes LMG 8337T and C. gleum NCTC 11432T, but not in strain 7_F195T or C. flavum KCTC 12877T. The predominant fatty acids of strain 7_F195T were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 1 ω9c and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and the most abundant polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. Menaquinone-6 was the only respiratory quinone. Based on the data generated from this polyphasic study, strain 7_F195T represents a novel Chryseobacterium species for which the name Chryseobacterium pennipullorum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 7_F195T (=LMG 30781T=KCTC 62760T).

The possible evolutionary trend of COVID-19 in South Africa was investigated by comparing the genome of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from a patient in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa with those isolated from China, Spain, Italy, and United States, as well as the genomes of Bat SARS CoV, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Mouse Hepatitis Virus (MHV), and Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV). Phylogenetic analysis revealed a strong homology (96%) between the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and those isolated from the study countries as well as those isolated from bat SARS CoV, MERS-CoV, MHV and IBV. The ability of phytocannabinoids from Cannabis sativa infusion to interact with gene segments (mRNAs) coding for proteins implicated in viral replication, assembly and release were also investiagted using computational tools. Hot water infusion of C. sativa leaves was freeze-dried and subjected to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy analysis which revealed the presence of tetrahydrocannabivarin, cannabispiran, cannabidiol tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabigerol, and cannabinol. Molecular docking analysis revealed strong binding affinities and interactions between the phytocannabinoids and codon mRNAs for ORF1ab, Surface glycoprotein, Envelope protein and Nucleocapsid phosphoprotein from SARS-CoV-2 whole genome which may be due to chemico-biological interactions as a result of nucleophilic/electrophilic attacks between viral nucleotides and cannabinoids. These results depict the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is intercontinental and might have evolved from other coronaviruses. The results also portray the phytocannabinoids of C. sativa infusion as potential therapies against COVID-19 as depicted by their ability to molecularly interact with codon mRNAs of proteins implicated in the replication, translation, assembly, and release of SARS-CoV-2. However, further studies are needed to verify these activities in pre-clinical and clinical studies.

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