Human SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to increase U content and reduce genome size.
Int J Biol Macromol
; 204: 356-363, 2022 Apr 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1670549
ABSTRACT
Infections caused by SARS-CoV-2 have brought great harm to human health. After transmission for over two years, SARS-CoV-2 has diverged greatly and formed dozens of different lineages. Understanding the trend of its genome evolution could help foresee difficulties in controlling transmission of the virus. In this study, we conducted an extensive monthly survey and in-depth analysis on variations of nucleotide, amino acid and codon numbers in 311,260 virus samples collected till January 2022. The results demonstrate that the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 is toward increasing U-content and reducing genome-size. C, G and A to U mutations have all contributed to this U-content increase. Mutations of C, G and A at codon position 1, 2 or 3 have no significant difference in most SARS-CoV-2 lineages. Current viruses are more cryptic and more efficient in replication, and are thus less virulent yet more infectious. Delta and Omicron variants have high mutability over other lineages, bringing new threat to human health. This trend of genome evolution may provide a clue for tracing the origin of SARS-CoV-2, because ancestral viruses should have lower U-content and probably bigger genome-size.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Base Composition
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Int J Biol Macromol
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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