Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA), 6th of October, Giza, 12451, Egypt.
Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University, African Union Organization St, Abbassia, 11566, Cairo, Egypt.
Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 19;11(1):8435. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-87713-x.
Expansion of COVID-19 worldwide increases interest in unraveling genomic variations of novel SARS-CoV-2 virus. Metadata of 408,493 SARS-CoV-2 genomes submitted to GISAID database were analyzed with respect to genomic clades and their geographic, age, and gender distributions. Of the currently known SARS-CoV-2 clades, clade GR was the most prevalent worldwide followed by GV then GH. Chronological analysis revealed expansion in SARS-CoV-2 clades carrying D614G mutations with the predominance of the newest clade, GV, in the last three months. D614G clades prevail in countries with more COVID-19 cases. Of them, the clades GH and GR were more frequently recovered from severe or deceased COVID-19 cases. In contrast, G and GV clades showed a significantly higher prevalence among asymptomatic patients or those with mild disease. Metadata analysis showed higher (p < 0.05) prevalence of severe/deceased cases among males than females and predominance of GR clade in female patients. Furthermore, severe disease/death was more prevalent (p < 0.05) in elderly than in adults/children. Higher prevalence of the GV clade in children compared to other age groups was also evident. These findings uniquely provide a statistical evidence on the adaptation-driven evolution of SARS-CoV-2 leading to altered infectivity, virulence, and mortality.
全球范围内 COVID-19 的蔓延，增加了人们对新型 SARS-CoV-2 病毒基因组变异的研究兴趣。对 GISAID 数据库中提交的 408,493 份 SARS-CoV-2 基因组元数据进行了分析，涉及基因组分支及其地理、年龄和性别分布。在目前已知的 SARS-CoV-2 分支中，GR 分支在全球最为普遍，其次是 GV，然后是 GH。时间序列分析显示，携带 D614G 突变的 SARS-CoV-2 分支不断扩大，在过去三个月中，最新的 GV 分支占主导地位。D614G 分支在 COVID-19 病例较多的国家更为普遍。其中，GH 和 GR 分支在严重或死亡的 COVID-19 病例中更为常见。相比之下，G 和 GV 分支在无症状或轻症患者中更为常见。元数据分析显示，男性严重/死亡病例的比例高于女性（p<0.05），且 GR 分支在女性患者中更为常见。此外，老年患者比成年/儿童患者更容易出现严重疾病/死亡（p<0.05）。与其他年龄组相比，儿童中 GV 分支的高发生率也很明显。这些发现为 SARS-CoV-2 的适应性进化导致的感染性、毒力和死亡率的改变提供了统计学证据。
