Batista-Roche Jorge Luis, Gómez-Gil Bruno, Lund Gertrud, Berlanga-Robles César Alejandro, García-Gasca Alejandra
Molecular and Cellular Biology, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, Mazatlán 82112, Mexico.
Microbial Genomics, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, Mazatlán 82112, Mexico.
Epigenomes. 2022 Jun 29;6(3):16. doi: 10.3390/epigenomes6030016.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causal agent of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease-19). Both mutation and/or recombination events in the SARS-CoV-2 genome have resulted in variants that differ in transmissibility and severity. Furthermore, RNA methylation of the N6 position of adenosine (m6A) is known to be altered in cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, it is not known whether this epitranscriptomic modification differs across individuals dependent on the presence of infection with distinct SARS-CoV-2 variants, the viral load, or the vaccination status. To address this issue, we selected RNAs ( = 60) from SARS-CoV-2 sequenced nasopharyngeal samples ( = 404) of 30- to 60-year-old outpatients or hospitalized individuals from the city of Mazatlán (Mexico) between February 2021 and March 2022. Control samples were non-infected individuals ( = 10). SARS-CoV-2 was determined with real-time PCR, viral variants were determined with sequencing, and global m6A levels were determined by using a competitive immunoassay method. We identified variants of concern (VOC; alpha, gamma, delta, omicron), the variant of interest (VOI; epsilon), and the lineage B.1.1.519. Global m6A methylation differed significantly across viral variants ( = 3.2 × 10). In particular, we found that m6A levels were significantly lower in the VOC delta- and omicron-positive individuals compared to non-infected individuals ( = 2.541236 × 10 and 1.134411 × 10, respectively). However, we uncovered no significant correlation between global m6A levels and viral nucleocapsid () gene expression or age. Furthermore, individuals with complete vaccination schemes showed significantly lower m6A levels than unvaccinated individuals ( = 2.6 × 10), and differences in methylation levels across variants in unvaccinated individuals were significant ( = 3.068 × 10). These preliminary results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 variants show differences in global m6A levels.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）是冠状病毒病19（COVID-19）的病原体。SARS-CoV-2基因组中的突变和/或重组事件导致了传播性和严重性不同的变异株。此外，已知感染SARS-CoV-2的细胞中腺苷N6位置的RNA甲基化（m6A）会发生改变。然而，尚不清楚这种表观转录组修饰是否因个体不同而有所差异，这取决于感染的SARS-CoV-2变异株的存在、病毒载量或疫苗接种状态。为了解决这个问题，我们从2021年2月至2022年3月期间墨西哥马萨特兰市30至60岁门诊患者或住院患者的404份SARS-CoV-2测序鼻咽样本中选取了60份RNA。对照样本为未感染个体（10份）。通过实时PCR检测SARS-CoV-2，通过测序确定病毒变异株，并使用竞争性免疫测定法测定整体m6A水平。我们鉴定出了关注变异株（VOC；阿尔法、伽马、德尔塔、奥密克戎）、感兴趣变异株（VOI；伊普西龙）和B.1.1.519谱系。整体m6A甲基化在不同病毒变异株之间存在显著差异（P = 3.2×10）。特别是，我们发现德尔塔和奥密克戎VOC阳性个体中的m
