Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 genomes circulated at low levels over the first year of the pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Viral recombination can generate novel genotypes with unique phenotypic characteristics, including transmissibility and virulence. Although the capacity for recombination among betacoronaviruses is well documented, recombination between strains of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has not been characterized in detail. Here, we present a lightweight approach for detecting genomes that are potentially recombinant. This approach relies on identifying the mutations that primarily determine SARS-CoV-2 clade structure and then screening genomes for ones that contain multiple mutational markers from distinct clades. Among the over 537,000 genomes queried that were deposited on GISAID.org prior to 16 February 2021, we detected 1,175 potential recombinant sequences. Using

SUBMITTER: VanInsberghe D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8344435 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature