AUTHOR=Srivastava Anshika , Bandopadhyay Audditiya , Das Debashurti , Pandey Rudra Kumar , Singh Vanya , Khanam Nargis , Srivastava Nikhil , Singh Prajjval Pratap , Dubey Pavan Kumar , Pathak Abhishek , Gupta Pranav , Rai Niraj , Sultana Gazi Nurun Nahar , Chaubey Gyaneshwer TITLE=Genetic Association of ACE2 rs2285666 Polymorphism With COVID-19 Spatial Distribution in India JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics VOLUME=11 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2020.564741 DOI=10.3389/fgene.2020.564741 ISSN=1664-8021 ABSTRACT=

Studies on host-pathogen interaction have identified human ACE2 as a host cell receptor responsible for mediating infection by coronavirus (COVID-19). Subsequent studies have shown striking difference of allele frequency among Europeans and Asians for a polymorphism rs2285666, present in ACE2. It has been revealed that the alternate allele (TT-plus strand or AA-minus strand) of rs2285666 elevate the expression level of this gene upto 50%, hence may play a significant role in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility. Therefore, we have first looked the phylogenetic structure of rs2285666 derived haplotypes in worldwide populations and compared the spatial frequency of this particular allele with respect to the COVID-19 infection as well as case-fatality rate in India. For the first time, we ascertained a significant positive correlation for alternate allele (T or A) of rs2285666, with the lower infection as well as case-fatality rate among Indian populations. We trust that this information will be useful to understand the role of ACE2 in COVID-19 susceptibility.