Back to Search
Start Over
Signal hotspot mutations in SARS-CoV-2 genomes evolve as the virus spreads and actively replicates in different parts of the world.
- Source :
-
Virus research [Virus Res] 2020 Nov; Vol. 289, pp. 198170. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Sep 24. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first identified in Wuhan, China late in 2019. Nine months later (Sept. 23, 2020), the virus has infected > 31.6 million people around the world and caused > 971.000 (3.07 %) fatalities in 220 countries and territories. Research on the genetics of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, its mutants and their penetrance can aid future defense strategies. By analyzing sequence data deposited between December 2019 and end of May 2020, we have compared nucleotide sequences of 570 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from China, Europe, the US, and India to the sequence of the Wuhan isolate. During worldwide spreading among human populations, at least 10 distinct hotspot mutations had been selected and found in up to > 80 % of viral genomes. Many of these mutations led to amino acid exchanges in replication-relevant viral proteins. Mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome would also impinge upon the secondary structure of the viral RNA molecule and its repertoire of interactions with essential cellular and viral proteins. The increasing frequency of SARS-CoV-2 mutation hotspots might select for dangerous viral pathogens. Alternatively, in a 29.900 nucleotide-genome, there might be a limit to the number of mutable and selectable sites which, when exhausted, could prove disadvantageous to viral survival. The speed, at which novel SARS-CoV-2 mutants are selected and dispersed around the world, could pose problems for the development of vaccines and therapeutics.<br /> (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Amino Acid Sequence
Amino Acid Substitution
Base Sequence
Betacoronavirus pathogenicity
Betacoronavirus physiology
Biological Evolution
COVID-19
China
Conserved Sequence
Coronavirus Infections epidemiology
Europe
Germany
Global Health
Humans
India
Pneumonia, Viral epidemiology
Russia
SARS-CoV-2
Sequence Alignment
Sequence Homology
United States
Virus Replication
Betacoronavirus genetics
Coronavirus Infections virology
Genome, Viral
Mutation
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral virology
RNA, Viral genetics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1872-7492
- Volume :
- 289
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Virus research
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 32979477
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2020.198170