Biology subjects

Rahaman, M. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Rahaman, M. M..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Temporal landscape of mutation accumulation in SARS-CoV-2 genomes from Bangladesh: possible implications from the ongoing outbreak in Bangladesh

Along with intrinsic evolution, adaptation to selective pressure in new environments might have resulted in the circulatory SARS-CoV-2 strains in response to the geoenvironmental conditions of a country and the demographic profile of its population. Thus the analysis of genomic mutations of these circulatory strains may give an insight into the molecular basis of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and evolution favoring the development of effective treatment and containment strategies. With this target, the current study traced the evolutionary route and mutational frequency of 198 Bangladesh originated SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences available in the GISAID platform over a period of 13 weeks as of 14 July 2020. The analyses were performed using MEGA 7, Swiss Model Repository, Virus Pathogen Resource and Jalview visualization. Our analysis identified that majority of the circulating strains in the country belong to B and/or L type among cluster A to Z and strikingly differ from both the reference genome and the first sequenced genome from Bangladesh. Mutations in Nonspecific protein 2 (NSP2), NSP3, RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), Helicase, Spike, ORF3a, and Nucleocapsid (N) protein were common in the circulating strains with varying degrees and the most unique mutations(UM) were found in NSP3 (UM-18). But no or limited changes were observed in NSP9, NSP11, E (Envelope), NSP7a, ORF 6, and ORF 7b suggesting the possible conserved functions of those proteins in SARS-CoV-2 propagation. However, along with D614G mutation, more than 20 different mutations in the Spike protein were detected basically in the S2 domain. Besides, mutations in SR-rich region of N protein and P323L in RDRP were also present. However, the mutation accumulation showed an association with sex and age of the COVID-19 positive cases. So, identification of these mutational accumulation patterns may greatly facilitate drug/ vaccine development deciphering the age and the sex dependent differential susceptibility to COVID-19.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2020

Evolutionary dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (N protein) and its consequences

The emerging novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has created a global confusing pandemic health crisis that warrants an accurate and detailed characterization of the rapidly evolving viral genome for understanding its epidemiology, pathogenesis and containment. We explored 61,485 sequences of the Nucleocapsid (N) protein, a potent diagnostic and prophylactic target, for identifying the mutations to review their roles in RT-PCR based diagnosis and observe consequent impacts. Compared to the Wuhan reference strain, a total of 1034 unique nucleotide mutations were identified in the mutant strains (49.15%, n=30,221) globally. Of these mutations, 367 occupy primer binding sites including 3-end mismatch to primer-pair of 11 well characterized primer sets. Noteworthy, CDC (USA) recommended N2 primer set contained lower mismatch than the other primer sets. Moreover, 684 amino acid (aa) substitutions located across 317 (75.66% of total aa) unique positions including 82, 21, and 83 of those in RNA binding N-terminal domain (NTD), SR-rich region, and C-terminal dimerization domain (CTD), respectively. Moreover, 11 in-frame deletions were revealed, mostly (n =10) within the highly flexible linker region, and the rest within the NTD region. Furthermore, we predicted the possible consequences of high-frequency mutations ([≥] 20) and deletions on the tertiary structure of the N protein. Remarkably, we observed that high frequency (67.94% of mutated sequences) coevolving mutations (R203K and G204R) destabilized and decreased overall structural flexibility. Despite being proposed as the alternate target to spike protein for vaccine and therapeutics, ongoing nonsynonymous evolution of the N protein may challenge the endeavors, thus need further immunoinformatics analyses. Therefore, continuous monitoring is required for tracing the ongoing evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 N protein in prophylactic and diagnostic interventions.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Multidrug-Resistant Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strains and Association of Their Virulence Genes in Bangladesh

The avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) strains are the chief etiology of avian colibacillosis worldwide. The present study investigated the circulating phylotypes, existence of virulence genes (VGs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in 392 APEC isolates, obtained from 130 samples belonged to six farms using both phenotypic and PCR-based molecular approaches. Congo red binding (CRB) assay confirmed 174 APEC isolates which were segregated into 10, 9 and 8 distinctive genotypes by RAPD assay (discriminatory index, D=0.8707), BOX-PCR (D=0.8591) and ERIC-PCR (D=0.8371), respectively. The combination of three phylogenetic markers (chuA, yjaA and DNA fragment TspE4.C2) classified APEC isolates into B23 (37.36%), A1 (33.91%), D2 (11.49%), B22 (9.20%) and B1 (8.05%) phylotypes. Majority of the APEC isolates (75-100%) harbored VGs (ial, fimH, crl, papC and cjrC), and of them, VGs (papC and cjrC) and phylotypes (D2 and B2) of APEC had significant (p=0.004) association with colibacillosis. Phylogenetic analysis showed two distinct clades (Clade A and Clade B) of APEC where Clade A had 98-100.0% similarity with E. coli APEC O78 and E. coli EHEC strains, and Clade B had closest relationship with E. coli O169:H41 strain. Interestingly, phylogroups B2 and D2 were found in the APEC strains of both clades while the strains from phylogroups A1 and B1 were found in clade A only. In this study, 81.71% of the isolates were biofilm formers and possessed plasmids of varying ranges (1.0 to 54 kb). In vitro antibiogram profiling revealed that 100.0% isolates were resistant to [≥]3 antibiotics, of which61.96%, 55.24, 53.85, 51.16 and 45.58 % isolates in phylotypes B1, D2, B22, B23 and A1, respectively were these antimicrobials. The resistance patterns varied among different phylotypes, notably in phylotype B22 showing the highest resistance to ampicillin (90.91%), nalidixic acid (90.11%), tetracycline (83.72%) and nitrofurantoin (65.12%). Correspondence analysis also showed significant correlation of phylotypes with CRB (p=0.008), biofilm formation (p=0.02), drug resistance (p=0.03) and VGs (p=0.06). This report demonstrated that B2 and A1 phylotypes are dominantly circulating APEC phylotypes in Bangladesh; however, B2 and D2 are strongly associated with the pathogenicity. A high prevalence of antibiotic resistant APEC strains from different phylotypes suggest to use of organic antimicrobial compounds, and/or metals, and the rotational use of antibiotics in the poultry farms in Bangladesh.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

Epitope-based chimeric peptide vaccine design against S, M and E proteins of SARS-CoV-2 etiologic agent of global pandemic COVID-19: an in silico approach

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a public health emergency of international concern declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). An immuno-informatics approach along with comparative genomic was applied to design a multi-epitope-based peptide vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 combining the antigenic epitopes of the S, M and E proteins. The tertiary structure was predicted, refined and validated using advanced bioinformatics tools. The candidate vaccine showed an average of [≥] 90.0% world population coverage for different ethnic groups. Molecular docking of the chimeric vaccine peptide with the immune receptors (TLR3 and TLR4) predicted efficient binding. Immune simulation predicted significant primary immune response with increased IgM and secondary immune response with high levels of both IgG1 and IgG2. It also increased the proliferation of T-helper cells and cytotoxic T-cells along with the increased INF-{gamma} and IL-2 cytokines. The codon optimization and mRNA secondary structure prediction revealed the chimera is suitable for high-level expression and cloning. Overall, the constructed recombinant chimeric vaccine candidate demonstrated significant potential and can be considered for clinical validation to fight against this global threat, COVID-19.

microbiology↗