Nucleocapsid gene analysis from an imported case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Malaysia

Objective: To describe the complete nucleocapsid (N) gene region of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) from imported case in Malaysia and the relations with human- and camel-derived MERS-CoV.

Methods: Combination of throat and nasal swab specimens was subjected to viral RNA extraction. For screening, the extracted RNA was subjected to real-time RT-PCR targeting upstream of E gene, open reading frame 1b and open reading frame 1a. For confirmation, the RNA was subjected to RT-PCR targeting partial part of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and nucleocapsid, followed by amplification of complete N gene region. Nucleotide sequencing of the first Malaysian case of MERS-CoV was performed following the confirmation with real-time RT-PCR detection.

Results: Initial analysis of partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and N gene revealed that the nucleotides had high similarity to Jeddah_1_2013 strain. Analysis of complete N gene region (1 242 nucleotides) from the case showed high similarity and yet distinct to the nucleotide sequences of camel-derived MERS-CoV.

Conclusions: From the finding, there are possibilities that the patient acquired the infection from zoonotic transmission from dromedary camels.