Differing coronavirus genres alter shared host signaling pathways upon viral infection

Abstract

Coronaviruses are important viral pathogens across a range of animal species including humans. They have a high potential for cross-species transmission as evidenced by the emergence of COVID-19 and may be the origin of future pandemics. There is therefore an urgent need to study coronaviruses in depth and to identify new therapeutic targets. This study shows that distant coronaviruses such as Alpha-, Beta-, and Deltacoronaviruses can share common host immune associated pathways and genes. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the transcription profile of epithelial cell lines infected with swine acute diarrhea syndrome, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or porcine deltacoronavirus, showed that DEGs within 10 common immune associated pathways were upregulated upon infection. Twenty Three pathways and 21 DEGs across 10 immune response associated pathways were shared by these viruses. These 21 DEGs can serve as focused targets for therapeutics against newly emerging coronaviruses. We were able to show that even though there is a positive correlation between PDCoV and SARS-CoV-2 infections, these viruses could be using different strategies for efficient replication in their cells from their natural hosts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of comparative host transcriptome analysis across distant coronavirus genres.

Longitudinal transcriptional analysis of peripheral blood leukocytes in COVID-19 convalescent donors

“…Molecular and cellular immune features of 31 patients aged > 70 years with severe COVID-19 pneumonia have suggested that inflammation, coupled with the inability to have a proper anti-viral response, could aggravate disease severity and the worst clinical outcome [ 9 ]. Comparative host transcriptome analysis across distant coronavirus genres showed 23 pathways and 21 Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across ten immune response-associated pathways were shared by these viruses, and these DEGs could be utilized as specific targets for novel coronavirus treatments [ 10 ].…”