Neutral Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Coinfection on the Recombination-Driven Evolution of Endemic HCoV-OC43.

ABSTRACT: Knowledge gaps exist on whether SARS-CoV-2 co-infection alters recombination frequency or induces phylogenetic incongruities in endemic β-coronaviruses (HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1), limiting our understanding of cross-species evolution. Among 7213 COVID-19 and 1590 non-COVID-19 acute respiratory cases (2021-2022) screened via multiplex PCR, β-coronavirus co-infections (SARS-CoV-2 + HCoV-OC43/HKU1) and single HCoV-OC43/HKU1 infections were identified. Whole-genome sequencing (Illumina NovaSeq) was performed. Phylogenies were reconstructed using Bayesian inference (MrBayes). Recombination was assessed via Bootscan analysis (SimPlot). Co-infection prevalence was low (0.51%, mainly HCoV-HKU1: 0.28%, HCoV-OC43: 0.11%). HCoV-OC43 diverged into lineage 1 (genotype K) and a novel recombinant lineage 2 (

SUBMITTER: Zheng X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12474069 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature