Candidate microRNA therapeutics for genes in the SARS-CoV-2 genome

Through supressing protein translation, microRNA offers a route for serving as therapeutics for a variety of bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. Specifically, microRNA could bind to the mRNA transcripts of genes of these pathogens to suppress protein production, and thus, reduce the cytotoxicity effect of these pathogens. This work sought to use this concept to design microRNA therapeutics for genes in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. The design is based on the SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-Hu genome sequence, with an in-house MATLAB software aiding the automatic design of microRNA therapeutics. Briefly, the software designs a microRNA for each 100 base pair segments of the gene, thereby, providing sufficient coverage of the gene in the case where some segment of the gene share commonalities with other genes in the human genome. To be useful as a microRNA therapeutic, it is anticipated that at least a couple of genes in the virus genome needs to be targeted. In addition, the microRNA therapeutics should not bind to human mRNA transcripts in order to reduce its side effect profile. This aspect is checked through a BLAST search for the microRNA to ensure it is 100% specific to viral genes. Encapsulated herein is a zip file containing individual Excel file that contain the details of the microRNA therapeutics designed for different genes in the SARS-CoV-2 genome.