Genomic landscape of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Brazil suggests an external P.1 variant origin (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Brazil was the epicenter of worldwide pandemics at the peak of its second wave. The genomic/proteomic perspective of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil can bring new light to understand the global pandemics behavior. In this study, we track SARS-CoV-2 molecular information in Brazil using real-time bioinformatics and data science strategies to provide a comparative and evolutive panorama of the lineages in the country. SWeeP vectors represented the Brazilian and worldwide genomic/proteomic data from GISAID between 02/2020-08/2021. Clusters were analyzed and compared with PANGO lineages. Hierarchical clustering provided phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of the lineages, and we tracked the P.1 (Gamma) variant origin. The genomic diversity based on Chao's estimation allowed us to compare richness and coverage among Brazilian states and other representative countries. We found that epidemics in Brazil occurred in two distinct moments, with different genetic profiles. The P.1 lineages emerged in the second wave, which was more aggressive. We could not trace the origin of P.1 from the variants present in Brazil in 2020. Instead, we found evidence pointing to its external source and a possible recombinant event that may relate P.1 to the B.1.1.28 variant subset. We discussed the potential application of the pipeline for emerging variants detection and the stability of the PANGO terminology over time. The diversity analysis showed that the low coverage and unbalanced sequencing among states in Brazil could have allowed the silenty entry and dissemination of P.1 and other dangerous variants. This comparative and evolutionary analysis may help to understand the development and the consequences of the entry of variants of concern (VOC).