Project description:The SARS-CoV-2 virus is continuously evolving, with appearance of new variants characterized by multiple genomic mutations, some of which can affect functional properties, including infectivity, interactions with host immunity, and disease severity. The rapid spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants has highlighted the urgency to trace the virus evolution, to help limit its diffusion, and to assess effectiveness of containment strategies. We propose here a PCR-based rapid, sensitive and low-cost allelic discrimination assay panel for the identification of SARS-CoV-2 genotypes, useful for detection in different sample types, such as nasopharyngeal swabs and wastewater. The tests carried out demonstrate that this in-house assay, whose results were confirmed by SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequencing, can detect variations in up to 10 viral genome positions at once and is specific and highly sensitive for identification of all tested SARS-CoV-2 clades, even in the case of samples very diluted and of poor quality, particularly difficult to analyze.
Project description:The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has affected millions of people worldwide and has significant implications for public health. Host transcriptomics profiling provides comprehensive understanding of how the virus interacts with host cells and how the host responds to the virus. COVID-19 disease alters the host transcriptome, affecting cellular pathways and key molecular functions. To contribute to the global effort to understand the virus’s effect on host cell transcriptome, we have generated a dataset from nasopharyngeal swabs of 35 individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 from the Campania region in Italy during the three outbreaks, with different clinical conditions. This dataset will help to elucidate the complex interactions among genes and can be useful in the development of effective therapeutic pathways
Project description:We sought to characterize the host response through proteome profiling of nasopharyngeal swab specimens. A mass spectrometer combining trapped ion mobility spectrometry and high-resolution QTOF mass spectrometer with a parallel accumulation-serial fragmentation (PASEF) was deployed for unbiased proteome profiling. First, deep proteome profiling of nasopharyngeal swabs was performed in PASEF-DDA mode, which identified 7,723 proteins and 102,392 peptides that were then used for constructing a spectral library. Subsequently, quantitative proteome profiling was carried out for 90 nasopharyngeal swab samples in diaPASEF mode which resulted in 5,023 protein identifications. Functional analysis revealed two significant features of biological processes of innate immune response and viral life cycle. Overall, we provide the in-depth proteome record from nasopharyngeal swab samples and suggest relevant host response along with proteins playing a pivotal role against viral infection, which would assist for mining promising drug targets in the future.
Project description:We used total RNA of nasopharyngeal swabs from COVID-19 patients to identify their gene expression profile. Multiple biological process were significantly enriched in either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients. These significantly expressed genes were suggested to contribute to the severity of the disease. We also performed metagenomics analysis to identify differences in the microbiome profile of the two groups of patients.
Project description:A novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of COVID-19 and continues to be a global health challenge. To understand viral disease biology, we have carried out proteo-genomic analysis using next generation sequencing (NGS) and mass-spectrometry on nasopharyngeal swabs of COVID-19 patients to examine clinical genome and proteome. Our proteomic analysis, for the first time identified 13 different SARS-CoV-2 proteins from the clinical swabs. Additionally, host proteome analysis revealed several key host proteins to be uniquely expressed in COVID-19 patients. Besides revealing aspects of host-virus pathogenesis, our study opens avenues to develop better diagnostic markers and therapeutic strategies.
Project description:The urgent approval of the use of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine is essential to reduce the threat and burden of the epidemic on global public health, however, our current understanding of the host immune response to inactivated vaccine remains limited. We performed transcriptomics analysis on 20 SARS-CoV-2 naïve individuals who received multiple doses of inactivated vaccine and five SARS-CoV-2 recovered individuals who received single dose of inactivated vaccine. These data help us understand the reaction mechanism of the host's molecular immune system to the inactivated vaccine, and provide a basis for the choice of vaccination strategy.
Project description:To better understand the biological pathways by which UV inactivated SARS-CoV-induced pulmonary eosinophilia occurs, we examined global transcriptional changes in mouse lungs.