A Concise Review of Baseline Facts of SARS‐CoV‐2 for Interdisciplinary Research

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 is a global health emergency. Investigation covering various aspects of diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine development for COVID‐19 are being attempted globally. Common goal of reducing loss of life requires accelerated and integrated effort from researchers of different fields i. e. chemistry, biology, clinical/medical science etc. Integrated yet timely effort requires the understanding of interdisciplinary key concepts as well as knowledge of major challenges, present status and strategies. Hence, in this article, we present an overview of baseline/key facts of SARS‐CoV‐2 mingled with current status and strategies in a simple, straight forward and coherent manner. In particular, the review attempts to integrate and arrange the key facts at the interface of chemistry and biology. Overview of epidemiology of SARS‐CoV‐2 virus infection, structural characteristics of virus, detection methods and therapeutic agents based on antibodies, therapeutic agents based on traditional drug molecule, drug development based on specific catalytic enzyme inhibitors, vaccine design approaches have been provided. Since enzyme site and catalytic action is the key for biological process, they have been lucidly explained at molecular level. It is believed that accredited information amalgamated in this report will provide a strong rational and lucid groundwork for the coherent interdisciplinary research to countermeasure covid‐19 crisis.

Molecular Level Dissection of Critical Spike Mutations in SARS‐CoV‐2 Variants of Concern (VOCs): A Simplified Review

“…Generally, two different lineages of evolution of coronavirus are known namely the avian lineage and the mammalian lineage [33] . Avian lineage includes the gamma‐coronavirus and delta‐coronavirus whereas the mammalian lineage comprises the alpha‐coronavirus and beta‐coronavirus which can infect the mammals like bats, murine, bovine, humans, etc [34,35] . Ancestral beta‐CoVs (Bat‐CoV) were unable to infect humans as they cannot bind with human Angiotensin converting enzyme II (hACE2) situated in the lower respiratory tract of human, as a cell receptor for facilitating entry into cell.…”

“… [33] Avian lineage includes the gamma‐coronavirus and delta‐coronavirus whereas the mammalian lineage comprises the alpha‐coronavirus and beta‐coronavirus which can infect the mammals like bats, murine, bovine, humans, etc. [ 34 , 35 ] Ancestral beta‐CoVs (Bat‐CoV) were unable to infect humans as they cannot bind with human Angiotensin converting enzyme II (hACE2) situated in the lower respiratory tract of human, as a cell receptor for facilitating entry into cell. However, the emergence of the SARS‐CoV in 2003 was due to mutations of CoVs in bats and civets that allowed virus to attach to the host cell receptor hACE2 in humans and infect.…”

Immunosensor fabrication methods: A scoping review

“…In the ELISA Method, the limitation is that the testing time is quite long, where this tool takes ± 3 hours and requires complex special tools and instruments in a laboratory environment. At the same time, the process can only be done by officers with special expertise (Tyagi et al, 2020). Another tool, namely PCR, is also similar.…”

COVID‐19 into Chemical Science Perspective: Chemical Preventive Measures and Drug Development

“…There have been several reviews published recently on COVID‐19 addressing the recent advancement on the analysis, testing and treatment of this virus [10–43] . In this review, we have discussed COVID‐19 facts and literature starting from host binding events of SARS‐CoV‐2, chemical preventive measures and synthesis of repurposed drugs into chemical science perspective.…”