Comparative studies on camels and human derived Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in eastern province of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Coronaviruses causes major economic losses associated with high mortality of domestic animal species. They are widespread in bats worldwide but can infect many other species including birds, camels. cats. dogs. horses, and humans. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) belonging to genus Betacoronavirus associated with human respiratory infections was first detected in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012. The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) identified in the reservoir Dromedary camels persists to occur in the Middle East in interrupted form. The virus is spread in the infected camels’ secretions especially the nasal tract. Deep studies of the evolution of coronaviruses (MERS-CoVs) are pressingly required. In the current study, we studied amplified fragments of nucleocapsid (N) gene of positive sample from naturally infected dromedary camel comparing with human MERS-CoV strains for tracking the evolution of MERS-CoV over time. RNA was isolated from nasopharyngeal swabs of dromedary camels with suspected MERS-CoV infection. Gel based RT-PCR were analyzed for amplification of variable genomic fragments. Sequence comparisons were carried out through different bioinformatics tools available. Our results showed that there are small changes identified in nucleocapsid gene sequence compared to MERS-CoV-EMC-2012.These changes reported in four codons were found to modified C53T, G69A, C207T and C532T. Phylogenetic analysis using N gene sequence revealed clustering of MERS-CoV strains into three main clades. Eventually, MERS-CoV Shows some evolve. So, it is recommended that the molecular characteristics of future MERS-CoV strains should be analyzed on regular basis to prohibit potential outbreaks in the future