SARS-CoV-2, the new virus in the spotlight: evolution and potential therapeutic targets

In 2019 a new virus was added to the Coronaviridae family, it was initially called 2019- nCoV and then renominated SARS-CoV-2. It became sadly famous for the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) epidemy that started in Wuhan, China, the same year. During the following months, the virus has spread all around the world leading to a global pandemic that is still going on to date. To analyze SARS-CoV-2 is important to explore the Coronaviridae family viruses and their main characteristics. Moreover, the replication and structure of SARS-CoV-2 have to be studied, along with its spreading and transmission among people. It is of fundamental importance trying to understand its origin: pangolin can be identified, together with the bat, as a natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2. From a therapeutic point of view, a study analyzed mutational constraints present in some regions of the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) that could be perfect targets to fight the disease; for instance, RBD-based antigens might represent a new vaccine approach. Furthermore, this thesis has reported the analysis of RNA editing on SARS-CoV-2 genome, a phenomenon that might lead to the identification of ADAR (adenosine deaminases acting on RNA) and APOBEC (apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like) deaminases as possible weapons against viral propagation.