He L, Xie Z, Long X, Zhang C, He C, Zhao B, Qi F, Zhang N. Charge transport properties of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant (B.1.617.2).
Process Biochem 2022;
121:656-660. [PMID:
35965635 PMCID:
PMC9364919 DOI:
10.1016/j.procbio.2022.08.010]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Revised: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of concern is causing a new wave of infections in many countries. In order to better understand the changes of the SARS-CoV-2 mutation at the genetic level, we selected six mutations in the S region of the Delta variant compared with the native SARS-CoV-2 and get the conductance information of these six short RNA oligonucleotides groups by construct RNA: DNA hybrids. The electronic characteristics are investigated by the combination of density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green's function formulation with decoherence. We found that conductance is very sensitive to small changes in virus sequence. Among the 6 mutations in the Delta S region, D950N shows the largest change in relative conductance, reaching a surprising 4104.75%. These results provide new insights into the Delta variant from the perspective of its electrical properties. This may be a new method to distinguish virus variation and possess great research prospects.
Collapse