Fast assessment of human receptor-binding capability of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

Qiang Huang; Andreas Herrmann

Of course, ultimate confirmation of computational predictions requires experimental verification, which will also be very important for improving our method in the future. However, experimental approaches for deeply understanding the human transmission of viruses in terms of receptor-binding interactions and specificity is rather time consuming. Sometimes, it might be even impossible to employ experimental methods to thoroughly examine every evolved, mutant strain of a newly emerged virus, such as 2019-nCoV in our case. As an alternative, using a high-performance computer, our approach may assess the receptor-binding capability of a newly identified strain within a very short period of time. Thus, our method can be useful for the post-genome analysis for a newly identified CoV and its mutant strains, with the first-determined genome data. Note that, although viral genome data provide useful sequence information for comparison-based assessments with previously identified viruses, these data themselves do not offer hints about how the encoded viral proteins carry out their functions which may lead to serious human infections and diseases. Hence, post-genome analysis of viral protein functions is valuable not only for understanding the viruses themselves, but also for offering useful scientific supports for making effective, early decisions about viral prevention and control.