Natural selection pressure exerted on "Silent" mutations during the evolution of SARS-CoV-2: Evidence from codon usage and RNA structure.

ABSTRACT: From the first emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) till now, multiple mutations that caused synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions have accumulated. Among them, synonymous substitutions were regarded as "silent" mutations that received less attention than nonsynonymous substitutions that cause amino acid variations. However, the importance of synonymous substitutions can not be neglected. This research focuses on synonymous substitutions on SARS-CoV-2 and proves that synonymous substitutions were under purifying selection in its evolution. The evidence of purifying selection is provided by comparing the mutation number per site in coding and non-coding regions. We then study the two forces of purifying selection: synonymous codon usage and RNA seco

SUBMITTER: Bai H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9561399 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature