Fayad Nancy, Abi Habib Walid, Kandeil Ahmed, El-Shesheny Rabeh, Kamel Mina Nabil, Mourad Youmna, Mokhbat Jacques, Kayali Ghazi, Goldstein Jimi, Abdallah Jad
School of Pharmacy, Lebanese American University, P.O. Box 36, Byblos, Lebanon.
Center of Scientific Excellence for Influenza Viruses, National Research Centre, Giza 12622, Egypt.
Biology (Basel). 2021 Jun 14;10(6):531. doi: 10.3390/biology10060531.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has seen a worldwide spread since its emergence in 2019, including to Lebanon, where 534,968 confirmed cases (8% of the population) and 7569 deaths have been reported as of 14 May 2021. With the genome sequencing of strains from various countries, several classification systems were established via genome comparison. For instance, the GISAID clades classification highlights key mutations in the encoded proteins that could potentially affect the virus' infectivity and transmission rates. In this study, 58 genomes of Lebanese SARS-CoV-2 strains were analyzed, 28 of which were sequenced for this study, and 30 retrieved from the GISAID and GenBank databases. We aimed to classify these strains, establish their phylogenetic relationships, and extract the mutations causing amino acid substitutions within, particularly, the structural proteins. The sequenced Lebanese SARS-COV-2 strains were classified into four GISAID clades and 11 Pango lineages. Moreover, 21 uncommon mutations in the structural proteins were found in the newly sequenced strains, underlining interesting combinations of mutations in the spike proteins. Hence, this study constitutes an observation and description of the current SARS-CoV-2 genetic and clade situation in Lebanon according to the available sequenced strains.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）自2019年出现以来已在全球范围内传播，包括黎巴嫩，截至2021年5月14日，黎巴嫩已报告534968例确诊病例（占人口的8%）和7569例死亡病例。随着各国毒株的基因组测序，通过基因组比较建立了几种分类系统。例如，全球共享流感数据倡议组织（GISAID）进化枝分类突出了编码蛋白中的关键突变，这些突变可能会影响病毒的传染性和传播率。在本研究中，分析了58个黎巴嫩SARS-CoV-2毒株的基因组，其中28个是为本研究测序的，30个是从GISAID和GenBank数据库中检索到的。我们旨在对这些毒株进行分类，确定它们的系统发育关系，并提取特别是结构蛋白中导致氨基酸替换的突变。测序的黎巴嫩SARS-COV-2毒株被分为四个GISAID进化枝和11个Pango谱系。此外，在新测序的毒株中发现了结构蛋白中的21个罕见突变，突出了刺突蛋白中有趣的突变组合。因此，本研究根据现有的测序毒株对黎巴嫩目前的SARS-CoV-2基因和进化枝情况进行了观察和描述。
