Arif Nur Muhammad Ansori, Viol Dhea Kharisma, Sahal Sabilil Muttaqin, Yulanda Antonius, Arli Aditya Parikesit
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel coronavirus and the primary causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first occurred in China and rapidly spread worldwide. The government of the Republic of Indonesia confirmed its first two cases of COVID-19 in March 2020. COVID-19 is a serious illness with no efficacious antiviral medication or approved vaccine currently available. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the genome of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we characterized SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein genes from Indonesia to investigate their genetic composition and variability. Overall, ten SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein gene sequences retrieved from GenBank (National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA) and the GISAID EpiCoV database (Germany) were compared. We analyzed nucleotide variants and amino acid changes using Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (MEGA) X and analyzed gene similarity using the LALIGN web server. Interestingly, we revealed several specific mutation sites, however, there were no significant changes in the genetic composition of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein genes, when compared to the Wuhan- Hu-1 isolate from China. However, this is a preliminary study and we recommend that molecular epidemiology and surveillance programs against COVID-19 in Indonesia be improved. © The Author(s) 2020. Open Access.
Doctoral Program in Veterinary Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia; Division of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Generasi Biologi Indonesia (GENBINESIA) Foundation, Gresik, Indonesia; Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; Master Program in Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia; Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Department of Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia; Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Indonesia International Institute for Life Sciences, Jakarta, Indonesia
