Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 genome from December 2019 to late March 2020: Emerged haplotypes and informative Tag nucleotide variations.

ABSTRACT: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes serious disease in humans. First identified in November/December 2019 in China, it has rapidly spread worldwide. We analyzed 2790 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from 56 countries that were available on April 2, 2020, to assess the evolution of the virus during this early phase of its expansion. We aimed to assess sequence variations that had evolved in virus genomes, giving the greatest attention to the S gene. We also aimed to identify haplotypes that the variations may define and consider their geographic and chronologic distribution. Variations at 1930 positions that together cause 1203 amino acid changes were identified. The frequencies of changes normalized to the lengths of genes and encoded proteins were relatively hig

SUBMITTER: Safari I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7537300 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature