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最近,一种新的冠状病毒被确定为近期爆发的严重急性呼吸综合征(SARS)的病原体。虽然人们对人冠状病毒229E已经有了较多的研究,而且其受体结合位点也被确定在S蛋白第417～547个氨基酸残基之间。但是,这一区域与新分离的SARS相关病毒(香港株,CUHK-W1)没有任何同源性。有意思的是,已知的各种冠状病毒S蛋白S1亚基的序列比对和进化分析显示,鼠肝炎病毒(MHV)与SARS相关病毒的同源性最高。而且,MHV的S蛋白上负责受体结合的重要位点(第62～65和第214～216位氨基酸残基)与SARS相关病毒的相应区域(第51～54和第195～197位氨基酸残基)高度同源。这些生物信息学的分析结果可能对研究SARS相关病毒的受体结合位点和病毒侵染靶细胞的机理有所帮助,进而为设计抗病毒药物和疫苗提供新靶点。
Recently, a new coronavirus has been identified as the causative agent of the recent outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Although human coronavirus 229E has been studied more and its receptor binding site has also been identified in the S protein between the 417 ~ 547 amino acid residues. However, this region does not have any homologies with the newly isolated SARS-associated virus (Hong Kong strain, CUHK-W1). Interestingly, the sequence alignments and evolutionary analyzes of the known S1 subunits of various coronavirus S proteins show that the murine hepatitis virus (MHV) has the highest homology with the SARS-associated virus. Furthermore, important sites responsible for receptor binding (amino acid residues 62-65 and 214-216) on the S protein of MHV correspond to the corresponding regions of the SARS-associated virus (amino acid residues 51-54 and 195-197 Base) highly homologous. The results of these bioinformatics analyzes may help to understand the receptor binding sites of SARS-associated viruses and the mechanism by which the virus infects target cells, thus providing new targets for designing antiviral drugs and vaccines.