Stability of Envelope Proteins of SARS-CoV-2 Variants Could Be a Choice of New Drug Target

Abstract

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged as one of the worst viral pandemics during the past few years. As reported by the World Health Organization, around 77,56 49 520 cases and 70 51 720 deaths were reported from all over the world, which includes approximately 3500 patients reported during the recent past only. Currently, circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 are KP.3, JN.1, BA.2.86 and KP.2. Mass vaccinations have been provided since the end of December 2020, which led to 5.47 billion people vaccinated till date. However, the disease continues in small foci all over the world. Development of an effective drug target and mutation independent vaccine thus becomes essential research priorities. Owing to the unavailability of a specific drug molecule, the present study has focused on the development of an effective drug target to treat COVID-19. In-house primers were designed for four essential structural genes viz., Spike protein, ORF1ab, Nucleocapsid gene, and Envelope gene. Samples of different waves were amplified using these primers employing the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay. A total number of 86 SARS-CoV-2 RT PCR positive samples were studied, and results showed the most frequent appearance (80.2%) of Envelope (E) protein in all the samples. This suggests that during transmission across numbers of human hosts, it is the Envelope protein that was the most stable one. The most severe Delta variant showed the presence of E proteins in all the samples assayed. Blocking E protein as a new drug target to intervene intracellular replication of virus could be an effective drug development strategy.