Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wu Y
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7836551 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Stem cell research 20201209
The spike protein is a focused target of COVID-19, a pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. A 12-nt insertion at S1/S2 in the spike coding sequence yields a furin cleavage site, which raised controversy views on origin of the virus. Here we analyzed the phylogenetic relationships of coronavirus spike proteins and mapped furin recognition motif on the tree. Furin cleavage sites occurred independently for multiple times in the evolution of the coronavirus family, supporting the natural occurring hypothesi ...[more]