Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG), Izmir, Turkey.
Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG), Izmir, Turkey; Izmir International Biomedicine and Genome Institute (iBG-Izmir), Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey.
Infect Genet Evol. 2021 Jul;91:104796. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104796. Epub 2021 Mar 3.
SARS-CoV-2 is a betacoronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic that has affected millions of people worldwide. Pharmaceutical research against COVID-19 and the most frequently used tests for SARS-CoV-2 both depend on the genomic and peptide sequences of the virus for their robustness. Therefore, understanding the mutation rates and content of the virus is critical. Two key proteins for SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication are the S protein, responsible for viral entry into the cells, and RdRp, the RNA polymerase responsible for replicating the viral genome. Due to their roles in the viral cycle, these proteins are crucial for the fitness and infectiousness of the virus. Our previous findings had shown that the two most frequently observed mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, 14408C>T in the RdRp coding region, and 23403A>G in the S gene, are correlated with higher mutation density over time. In this study, we further detail the selection dynamics and the mutation rates of SARS-CoV-2 genes, comparing them between isolates carrying both mutations, and isolates carrying neither. We find that the S gene and the RdRp coding region show the highest variance between the genotypes, and their selection dynamics contrast each other over time. The S gene displays higher tolerance for positive selection in mutant isolates early during the appearance of the double mutant genotype, and undergoes increasing negative selection over time, whereas the RdRp region in the mutant isolates shows strong negative selection throughout the pandemic.
SARS-CoV-2 是一种贝塔冠状病毒,引发了全球数百万人感染的 COVID-19 大流行。针对 COVID-19 的药物研究和 SARS-CoV-2 最常使用的检测都依赖于病毒的基因组和肽序列来保证其稳健性。因此,了解病毒的突变率和含量至关重要。SARS-CoV-2 感染和复制的两个关键蛋白是 S 蛋白,负责病毒进入细胞,以及 RdRp,负责复制病毒基因组的 RNA 聚合酶。由于它们在病毒周期中的作用,这些蛋白对于病毒的适应性和传染性至关重要。我们之前的研究结果表明,SARS-CoV-2 基因组中最常观察到的两个突变,即 RdRp 编码区的 14408C>T 和 S 基因中的 23403A>G,与随着时间的推移更高的突变密度相关。在这项研究中,我们进一步详细研究了 SARS-CoV-2 基因的选择动态和突变率,将它们与同时携带这两个突变的分离株和不携带这两个突变的分离株进行比较。我们发现,S 基因和 RdRp 编码区在基因型之间显示出最高的方差,并且它们的选择动态随着时间相互对比。S 基因在双突变基因型出现早期的突变株中显示出更高的正选择耐受性,并随着时间的推移经历越来越多的负选择,而 RdRp 区域在整个大流行期间的突变株中显示出强烈的负选择。