A UK-led research team has characterised patterns of diversity of SARS-CoV-2 virus genome, giving the potential to inform targets for drug and vaccine development.
The researchers curated a data set of 7666 public genome assemblies from people infected with COVID-19 and analysed the emergence of genomic diversity over time.
By focusing on mutations which have emerged independently multiple times (homoplasies), they identified 198 filtered recurrent mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Nearly 80 per cent of the recurrent mutations produced non-synonymous changes at the protein level, suggesting possible ongoing adaptation of SARS-CoV-2.
Phylogenetic estimates support that the COVID-2 pandemic started around October 2019 to early December 2019, which corresponds to the time of the host-jump into humans as reported in other studies.
The diversity of SARS-CoV-2 strains in many countries, including the UK and other hardest hit areas, recapitulates its full global diversity, consistent with multiple introductions of the virus to regions throughout the world seeding local transmission events.
Study co-lead author Dr Lucy van Dorp (University College London Genetics Institute) said: “Being able to analyse such an extraordinary number of virus genomes within the first few months of the pandemic could be invaluable to drug development efforts, and showcases how far genomic research has come even within the last decade. We are all benefiting from a tremendous effort by hundreds of researchers globally who have been sequencing virus genomes and making them available online.”
The findings are published in Infection, Genetics and Evolution.
