  The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2, has caused 60 millions of infections and 1.38 millions of
fatalities. Genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 can provide insights on drug design
and vaccine development for controlling the pandemic. Inverted repeats in a
genome greatly impact the stability of the genome structure and regulate gene
expression. Inverted repeats involve cellular evolution and genetic diversity,
genome arrangements, and diseases. Here, we investigate the inverted repeats in
the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 genome. We found that SARS-CoV-2 genome has an
abundance of inverted repeats. The inverted repeats are mainly located in the
gene of the Spike protein. This result suggests the Spike protein gene
undergoes recombination events, therefore, is essential for fast evolution.
Comparison of the inverted repeat signatures in human and bat coronaviruses
suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is mostly related SARS-related coronavirus,
SARSr-CoV/RaTG13. The study also reveals that the recent SARS-related
coronavirus, SARSr-CoV/RmYN02, has a high amount of inverted repeats in the
spike protein gene. Besides, this study demonstrates that the inverted repeat
distribution in a genome can be considered as the genomic signature. This study
highlights the significance of inverted repeats in the evolution of SARS-CoV-2
and presents the inverted repeats as the genomic signature in genome analysis.
