GWAS reveals genetic basis of a predisposition to severe COVID-19 through in silico modeling of the FYCO1 protein.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19, is heavily reliant on its natural ability to "hack" the host's genetic and biological pathways. The genetic susceptibility of the host is a key factor underlying the severity of the disease. Polygenic risk scores are essential for risk assessment, risk stratification, and the prevention of adverse outcomes. In this study, we aimed to assess and analyze the genetic predisposition to severe COVID-19 in a large representative sample of the Russian population as well as to build a reliable but simple polygenic risk score model with a lower margin of error. Another important goal was to learn more about the pathogenesis of severe COVID-19. We examined the tertiary structure of the FYCO1 protein, the only gene with mutations in its coding region and discovered changes in the coiled-coil domain. Our findings suggest that FYCO1 may accelerate viral intracellular replication and excessive exocytosis and may contribute to an increased risk of severe COVID-19. We found significant associations between COVID-19 and LZTFL1, FYCO1, XCR1, CCR9, TMLHE-AS1, and SCYL2 at 3p21.31. Our findings further demonstrate the polymorphic nature of the severe COVID-19 phenotype.

Knomics-Biota - a system for exploratory analysis of human gut microbiota data.

BACKGROUND: Metagenomic surveys of human microbiota are becoming increasingly widespread in academic research as well as in food and pharmaceutical industries and clinical context. Intuitive tools for investigating experimental data are of high interest to researchers. RESULTS: Knomics-Biota is a web-based resource for exploratory analysis of human gut metagenomes. Users can generate and share analytical reports corresponding to common experimental schemes (like case-control study or paired comparison). Interactive visualizations and statistical analysis are provided in association with the external factors and in the context of thousands of publicly available datasets arranged into thematic collections. The web-service is available at https://biota.knomics.ru. CONCLUSIONS: Knomics-Biota web service is a comprehensive tool for interactive metagenomic data analysis.