Different SARS-CoV-2 haplotypes associate with geographic origin and case fatality rates of COVID-19 patients.

ABSTRACT: The current pandemic of COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus for which many variants at the Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) level have now been identified. We show here that different allelic variants among 692 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences display a statistically significant association with geographic origin (p < 0.000001) and COVID-19 case severity (p = 0.016). Geographic variation in itself is associated with both case severity and allelic variation especially in strains from Indian origin (p < 0.000001). Using an new alternative bioinformatics approach we were able to confirm that the presence of the D614G mutation correlates with increased case severity in a sample of 127 sequences from a shared geographic origin in the US (p = 0.018). While leaving open the question on the

SUBMITTER: Goyal M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7837616 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature