Authors: Ghannoum Al Chawaf K, Lahmiri S
The COVID-19 outbreak has made it evident that the nature and behavior of SARS-CoV-2 requires constant research and surveillance, owing to the high mutation rates that lead to variants. This work focuses on the statistical analysis of energy measures as biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2. The main purpose of this study is to determine which energy measure can differentiate between SARS-CoV-2 variants, human cell receptors (GRP78 and ACE2), and their combinations. The dataset includes energy measures for different biological structures categorized by variants, receptors, and combinations, representing the sequence of variants and receptors. A multiple analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for equality of means and a Bartlett test for equality of variances are applied to energy measures. Results from multiple ANOVA show (a) the presence of significant differences in energy across variants, receptors, and combinations, (b) that average energy is significant only for receptors and combinations, but not for variants, and (c) the absence of significant differences observed for standard deviation across variants or combinations, but that there are significant differences across receptors. The results from the Bartlett tests show that (a) there is a presence of significant differences in the variances in energy across the variants and combinations, but no significant differences across receptors, (b) there is an absence of significant differences in variances across any group (variants, receptors, combinations), and (c) there is an absence of significant differences in variances for standard deviation of energy across variants, receptors, or combinations. In summary, it is concluded that energy and mean energy are the key biomarkers used to differentiate receptors and combinations. In addition, energy is the primary biomarker where variances differ across variants and combinations. These findings can help to implement tailored interventions, address the SARS-CoV-2 issue, and contribute considerably to the global fight against the pandemic.
Keywords: Bartlett'; s test; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; genetic sequences; human receptors; multiple ANOVA test; statistical analysis; variant identification;
PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41596038/
DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering13010107