Year: 2020
Pages: 242-271
Number: Volume 13, issue 2
Type: scientific article
This review focuses on betacoronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which caused a pandemic in the spring of 2020 in the form of a dangerous highly contagious coronavirus infection COVID-19. There was an explosive growth in the number of publications related to coronavirus worldwide in 2020, including questions of molecular biological detection of viral DNA and the creation of vaccines. The taxonomy of betacoronaviruses and the organization of their genome, represented by the (+) RNA chain, is briefly presented, including more detailed information about the surface glycoprotein in the form of S (Spike) protein. A hypothetical life cycle of betacoronavirus is described. It is shown that along with the high conservativeness of genomic sequences of various strains and isolates of SARS-CoV-2, there are mutations of individual nucleotides that lead to the replacement of amino acids in the protein sequence, among which the mis-sense mutation D614G presumably has a noticeable effect on the virus's contagiosity and the severity of the disease caused by it. It is suggested that D/G614 isolates should be detected, including using allele-specific reverse transcription PCR, since this may be clinically relevant information. The methods of detecting viral material using reverse transcription PCR and other methods of nucleic acid amplification are considered, and the diagnostic test systems for SARS-CoV-2 allowed for use in the Russian Federation are indicated. A summary of the types of vaccines being developed to control COVID-19 worldwide, including the Russian Federation, is provided. As of the end of May 2020 WHO has registered 131 candidate vaccines, of which 10 are undergoing clinical trials. A certain emphasis in describing the creation of vaccines is made on the use of plant technologies.
betacoronavirus, SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, genome, RNA, sequencing, diagnostics, real-time PCR, LAMP, loop amplification, Spike protein, vaccine