Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Queen's Genomics Lab at Ongwanada (Q-GLO), Ongwanada Resource Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
mSphere. 2021 May 5;6(3):e00011-21. doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00011-21.
Genome-wide variation in SARS-CoV-2 reveals evolution and transmission dynamics which are critical considerations for disease control and prevention decisions. Here, we review estimates of the genome-wide viral mutation rates, summarize current COVID-19 case load in the province of Ontario, Canada (5 January 2021), and analyze published SARS-CoV-2 genomes from Ontario (collected prior to 24 November 2020) to test for more infectious genetic variants or lineages. The reported mutation rate (∼10 nucleotide [nt] cycle) for SARS-CoV-2 is typical for coronaviruses. Analysis of published SARS-CoV-2 genomes revealed that the G614 spike protein mutation has dominated infections in Ontario and that SARS-CoV-2 lineages present in Ontario have not differed significantly in their rate of spread. These results suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 population circulating in Ontario has not changed significantly to date. However, ongoing genome monitoring is essential for identification of new variants and lineages that may contribute to increased viral transmission.
全基因组变异的 SARS-CoV-2 揭示了进化和传播动态，这是疾病控制和预防决策的关键考虑因素。在这里，我们评估了全基因组病毒突变率的估计值，总结了加拿大安大略省截至 2021 年 1 月 5 日的 COVID-19 病例数，并分析了安大略省已发表的 SARS-CoV-2 基因组（收集于 2020 年 11 月 24 日之前），以检测更具传染性的遗传变异或谱系。SARS-CoV-2 的报告突变率（约 10 个核苷酸[nt]循环）对于冠状病毒来说是典型的。对已发表的 SARS-CoV-2 基因组的分析表明，G614 刺突蛋白突变主导了安大略省的感染，并且安大略省存在的 SARS-CoV-2 谱系在传播速度上没有显著差异。这些结果表明，到目前为止，安大略省循环的 SARS-CoV-2 种群没有明显变化。然而，持续的基因组监测对于识别可能导致病毒传播增加的新变体和谱系至关重要。
