📑 Academic Activities

SEMINAR - ANIMAL PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT - DR. Shekhmous H. Hussen
May 21, 2022, 12:52 p.m.

Seminar Announcement at the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - Department of Animal Production.

Seminar entitled:

"PREDICTION OF POTENTIAL MUTATION OF CHICKEN CORONAVIRUS INTO FUTURE HUMAN CORONAVIRUS BASED ON SPIKE S1 GLYCOPROTEIN GENE"

Given by:

Dr. Shekhmous H. Hussen

on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 11:00 AM

 

Objectives or Summary:

The current study aimed to explore the possibility of genetic mutation of chicken’s IBV to be a COVID-19-like virus and its probable negative impact on the human being.

 ABSTRACT

The high mutation rates of the chicken coronavirus (IBV) cause economic threats to the poultry industry. However, the most dangerous situation is the likelihood of changing its sequences into human coronavirus (COVID-19-like virus). Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate the possibility of genetic mutation of IBV to COVID-19. Thus, the sequences of Spike (S1) Glycoprotein genes of both IBV and COVID-19 were aligned, analyzed, and calculated to predict the possible changes that could happen in the sequences of S1. The results indicated that in the case of an independent function of the probability of each cluster of S1 sequences, the potential mutation rate in the sequences of IBV to be as COVID-19 was equal to 1.87E-96. However, because the tendency for some sequence clusters of S1 gene was low or equal to zero, it is unattainable to mutate the chicken IBV into COVID-19 sequence. Furthermore, in the case of the dependent function, the probability of assumed annual mutation to make IBV infectious for humans may reach up to around 50% after about 260 years. In conclusion, the mutating of chicken coronavirus into a COVID-19-like virus is not impossible, but it might take a substantial period of time.

Place of the Seminar:

Building of the Animal Production Department