An in silico analysis of effective siRNAs against COVID-19 by targeting the leader sequence of SARS-CoV-2.

ABSTRACT: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a retrovirus having genome size of around 30 kb. Its genome contains a highly conserved leader sequence at its 5' end, which is added to all subgenomic mRNAs at their 5' terminus by a discontinuous transcription mechanism and regulates their translation. Targeting the leader sequence by RNA interference can be an effective approach to inhibit the viral replication. In the present study an in-silico prediction of highly effective siRNAs was performed to target the leader sequence using the online software siDirect version 2.0. Low seed-duplex stability, exact complementarity with target, at least three mismatches with any off-target and least number of off-targets, were considered as effective criteria for highly specific siRN

SUBMITTER: Pandey AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7995175 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature