Within-host evolutionary dynamics and tissue compartmentalization during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.

ABSTRACT: The global evolution of SARS-CoV-2 depends in part upon the evolutionary dynamics within individual hosts with varying immune histories. To characterize the within-host evolution of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, we sequenced saliva and nasal samples collected daily from vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals early during infection. We show that longitudinal sampling facilitates high-confidence genetic variant detection and reveals evolutionary dynamics missed by less-frequent sampling strategies. Within-host dynamics in both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals appeared largely stochastic; however, in rare cases, minor genetic variants emerged to frequencies sufficient for forward transmission. Finally, we detected significant genetic compartmentalization of viral variants between saliva

SUBMITTER: Farjo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10805032 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature