全球新型冠状病毒变异株研究进展

截至2021年5月11日,基于Pango命名法,依据新型冠状病毒(SARS-CoV-2)的基因组变异变迁将其划分为1281种亚型或分支.而SARS-CoV-2刺突(spike,S)蛋白的变异直接影响病毒的生物学功能.2020年下半年至今,全球多个国家和地区监测发现SARS-CoV-2的S蛋白发生氨基酸突变,特别是受体结合区或单克隆抗体结合位点氨基酸突变引起病毒的传播力和致病力改变以及部分免疫逃逸等.世界卫生组织将重要变异株划分为"关切变异株(variant of concern,VOC)"和"关注变异株(variant of interest,VOI)".其中,VOC 有4个,分别是 VOC 202012/01、501Y.V2﹑P.1 和 B.1.617;VOI 有6个,分别是 CAL.20C、P.2、B.1.526、B.1.525、B.1.616和P.3.一些氨基酸突变在多个VOC和VOI病毒株中交叉出现或同时出现,E484K/Q等重要氨基酸突变引起的部分免疫逃逸导致全球现有疫苗免疫效力下降,但现有新冠疫苗对VOC和VOI变异株仍然有效.本文通过对SARS-CoV-2变异株流行概况及S蛋白重要氨基酸突变特征进行归纳分析,为新冠病毒变异株的监测、防控和二代疫苗的研制策略提供科学参考.     

输入病毒导致的十起本土疫情首例病例新冠病毒基因特征分析

2020年4月中国阻断湖北省武汉市新冠肺炎疫情传播后,中国国内报道了多起由境外输入导致的本土聚集性新冠肺炎疫情。为分析引起聚集性疫情的输入性新型冠状病毒(SARS-CoV-2)的基因组特征,本研究对2020年4-11月份十起输入相关本土疫情首例病例的SARS-CoV-2全基因组基因特征进行分析,系统阐述了相关SARS-CoV-2的全基因组和氨基酸变异特征。结果显示,与武汉参考株相比,十起本土聚集性疫情首例病例的SARS-CoV-2核苷酸突变中位数为10个(8个-26个),氨基酸突变的中位数为6个(4个-16个),且刺突(spike,S)蛋白只有D614G一个氨基酸发生突变。除分支位点外,10条SARS-CoV-2全基因组序列的65个核苷酸突变位点以及35个氨基酸突变仅出现1-2次,呈现随机性。全基因组分析表明,这十起本土疫情的首例病例基因组按照中国分型法可划分为4个型,按照Pangolin分型法可划分为7个型,与我国2020年1-3月份武汉流行的毒株属于不同基因型,不是本土SARS-CoV-2的持续传播。与2020年9-12月英国和南非变异株属于不同基因型,无相关性。本文系统分析了2020年由输入病毒导致的十起本土疫情首例病例的SARS-CoV-2核苷酸与氨基酸变异特征,为我国新冠防控策略的制定以及后续新冠疫情的溯源提供了参考依据。     

2022年海南省新型冠状病毒奥密克戎（BA.1.1）变异株基因特征分析

为进一步积累和完善海南省新型冠状病毒（Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,SARS-CoV-2）奥密克戎（Omicron）变异株病原学特点的认识,本研究对2022年海南省14例感染奥密克戎（BA.1.1）变异株病例进行新冠病毒基因特征分析。应用Illumina公司MiSeqDX深度测序平台进行全基因组序列测定,Nextclade在线分析平台和DNASTAR 7.0.1生物信息学软件进行多序列比对和基因组特征分析,采用MEGA 10.1.8邻位归并法（Neighbour-joining）绘制系统进化树,结合流行病学调查进行回顾性溯源分析。海南省14例病例感染的奥密克戎（BA.1.1）变异株基因组高度相似,同武汉参考序列（GenBank No.NC＿045512）相比,存在63或64个核苷酸突变位点,39个核苷酸位点缺失,22204位点有9个核苷酸插入,引起43个氨基酸突变和16个氨基酸位点缺失。刺突（Spike, S）蛋白存在32个氨基酸突变位点,S1蛋白RBD区R346K是VOC/Omicron(BA.1.1)变异株特征性突变...     

奥密克戎BA.1变异株在全球的流行和刺突蛋白的进化分析

新型冠状病毒Omicron变异株出现之后，在全球暴发流行过程中不断进化出传播速度更快、免疫逃逸能力更强的进化分支，为了探究BA.1变异株在全球暴发流行的特征及刺突蛋白(Spike,S)基因的进化特征，本研究对其全基因序列的全球报告情况和S基因的进化特征进行了分析。本文通过全球共享流感数据倡议组织(Global Initiative of Sharing All Influenza Data,GISAID)获取Omicron BA.1系列变异株的全基因序列信息，分析BA.1系列变异株S基因氨基酸突变并构建系统进化树和进行贝叶斯系统进化分析。本研究提示全球约有1.2亿人被BA.1系列变异株感染，全球提交的BA.1系列变异株序列数在其出现2个月后达到高峰，5个月后占新型冠状病毒的比例下降到4.38%，累计提交BA.1全基因序列最多的区域是欧洲、美洲；截止2022年10月，BA.1系列变异株中序列提交数占绝对优势的是BA.1.1(42.07%)，其次是BA.1(18.81%)。对S基因的氨基酸变异分析显示BA.1有56个进化分支，其中48个分支稳定遗传了Omicron原始株S蛋白中的18个氨基...     

2021年2月深圳市六株境外输入的SARS-CoV-2基因组特征分析

为了解深圳境外输入的新型冠状病毒(SARS-CoV-2)的遗传特征,本研究对2021年2月六株境外输入的SARS-CoV-2毒株进行了高通量测序与基因组序列分析.测序获得的六株SARS-CoV-2毒株基因组长度分别为29 450 nt、28 936 nt﹑28 875 nt、29 855 nt、29 146 nt 和29 528 nt.根据"Pango lineages"分型法,三个来自肯尼亚、南非和柬埔寨的毒株属于B.1.1.7系(VOC-202012/01),一个来自美国的毒株属于B.1.2系(美国谱系),两个来自南非和肯尼亚的毒株属于B.1.351系(20H/501Y.V2).与武汉毒株Wuhan-Hu-1(NC_045512.2)比较,B.1.1.7系毒株的刺突蛋白(S)中发现了多达10个氨基酸的变异,B.1.2系毒株的S蛋白仅发现一个氨基酸的变异,B.1.351系毒株的S蛋白中发现了多达11个氨基酸的变异.来自柬埔寨的一株B.1.1.7系毒株的S蛋白中发现了三个变异(H69S,V70I与Y144V)与另外两个B.1.1.7系毒株中的变异(H69del,V70del与Y144del)不同.六个毒株在ORF1b上都表现出了 P314L的变异,在S蛋白上都表现出了 D614G的变异.2021年2月深圳输入了传染性更强的B.1.1.7英国变异株和B.1.351南非变异株.境外输入的SARS-CoV-2变异株存在引起本地暴发与流行的风险,需持续对境外输入的SARS-CoV-2毒株进行分子监测.     

甘肃口岸输入性新型冠状病毒全基因组测序和基因特征分析

新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）作为一种单链RNA病毒，可引起人类严重的呼吸道综合征。本研究对2020年3月至2021年1月甘肃口岸入境人员中经RT-PCR检测SARS-CoV-2核酸阳性的8份样本进行全基因组测序，并用MEGA11软件以邻接法构建系统发育树，以揭示甘肃口岸输入性SARS-CoV-2基因组特征和遗传进化关系。全基因组测序获得8条长度为29 252bp～29 833bp的SARS-CoV-2基因组序列，基因组覆盖度97.82%～99.77%。与武汉参考株（GISAID号：EPI＿ISL＿402119）相比，共检测到64个错义突变，31个同义突变，3个移码突变和5个非编码等位基因。按照Pangolin分型法，8株输入性毒株属于B.1和B.4谱系。系统发育树分析显示来自伊朗的2例毒株聚集于同一进化支，其他6例毒株分布于不同的进化支中，与目前全球流行的关注变异株和武汉参考株均位于不同进化分支。值得注意的是，一株2020年10月份从俄罗斯输入的B.1.1.523谱系毒株出现时间早于文献报道的2021年3月份，说明该谱系可能在2020年10月或更早就已在俄罗斯流行。     

深圳市一株境外输入新型冠状病毒C.1.2变异株的分子特征分析

为了了解境外输入的新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）变异株的分子特征,本研究对2021年6月深圳市一株从南非输入的SARS-CoV-2毒株进行了全基因组测序和序列分析。Illumina测序技术获得的SARS-CoV-2毒株基因组长度为29 567nt。根据"Pango lineages"分型法,本研究测定的毒株属于C.1.2系,该谱系属世界卫生组织定义的监测变异株（Variants Under Monitoring,VUM）成员之一。与参考株Wuhan-Hu-1(NC＿045512.2)比较,本研究C.1.2系毒株共出现了58个核苷酸变异位点,其中56个变异位点位于编码区。氨基酸变异位点共有33个,氨基酸变异位点分布于6个开放阅读框,变异数由多到少依次为：S蛋白区12个,ORFlab蛋白区9个,ORF3a蛋白区2个,M区2个,ORF8区2个,E区1个。本研究测定的SARS-CoV-2毒株属我国大陆首例境外输入的C.1.2变异株。开展境外输入的SARS-CoV-2毒株基于基因组测序的分子监测,对防控由境外输入的SARS-CoV-2变异株引起本地新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）暴发与...     

海南省三亚市15例新冠病毒Omicron变异株BA.5.1.3亚型的基因组特征分析

本文选取15例SARS-CoV-2感染病例的鼻咽拭子样本,采用新冠病毒全基因组三代Nanopore测序技术进行全基因组测序并对病毒的变异位点进行分析;结果显示,15株病毒均为BA.5.1.3变异株（Omicron）,NextStrain进化分析为22B。15株毒株共同发现了71个核苷酸突变位点,氨基酸的变异位点有54个,其中存在相同的16个同义突变。15株毒株具有5个特有的核苷酸变异,4个特有的氨基酸变异位点,个别毒株还具有其他突变位点。这是中国境内首次发现Omicron BA.5.1.3变异株,此变异株存在引发本地的流行和暴发风险,需要严密持续的对境外输入病例进行流行病学调查和病毒基因分子特征分析。本研究构建测序方法和分析结果可用于新冠病毒的变异分析和病例溯源,对新冠疫情防控具有重要意义。     

SARS-CoV-2污染的进口冷链产品导致的一起大连本土新冠疫情

2020年12月15日,大连市报告了4名码头冷链货物搬运工人SARS-CoV-2核酸检测呈阳性,在此之前,大连市已经连续136天没有报告本土病例.在这次大连COVID-19疫情(简称"大连新冠疫情")中,我们收集了2020年12月15日至2021年1月8日期间大连新冠疫情中全部感染者(83)及部分接触的轮船货物样本,其中确诊病例占61.45％(51/83),无症状感染者占38.55％(32/83).通过高通量测序,共获得76条SARS-CoV-2全基因组序列,其中72条(86.75％,72/83)来自临床样本,4条来自R国籍A货船上的冷链食品外包装样本.基因组分析数据显示,与武汉参考株(NC_045512)相比,76条全基因组分别存在12～16个核苷酸突变位点,共享12个核苷酸突变位点,符合B.1.1进化分支突变特征.结合病毒基因组学和现场流行病学调查结果综合分析表明,大连新冠疫情是一起由SARS-CoV-2污染的进口冷链产品感染码头工人导致的本土疫情,在传播过程中至少形成了3个病毒代际和3个相对独立的传播链.     

SARS-CoV-2（新冠病毒）变异流行株命名系统

SARS-CoV-2(Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2),又称“新型冠状病毒”或“新冠病毒”,正不断进化和变异,产生了大量的病毒变异株（Variant）,其致病性、宿主适应性和传播性变化显著,给COVID-19(Coronavirus disease-19),又称“新型冠状病毒肺炎”或“新冠肺炎”的防治带来巨大挑战。变异株的命名对COVID-19的分子流行病学调查和防控技术研究起到关键性的辨识作用。本文综述了GISAID、Nextstrain、Pango、TILE和希腊字母5种SARS-CoV-2变异株的命名原则、适用范围和重要的流行变异株,为SARS-CoV-2变异株的监测、研究SARS-CoV-2变异株的进化机制、传播特性及抗原位点设计提供一定的参考。     

A rapid and low-cost protocol for the detection of B.1.1.7 lineage of SARS-CoV-2 by using SYBR Green-based RT-qPCR

Molecular Biology Reports - The new SARS-CoV-2 variant VOC (202012/01), identified recently in the United Kingdom (UK), exhibits a higher transmissibility rate compared to other variants, and a...     

Genotyping coronavirus SARS-CoV-2: methods and implications

The emerging global infectious COVID-19 disease by novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) presents critical threats to global public health and the economy since it was identified in late December 2019 in China. The virus has gone through various pathways of evolution. To understand the evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2, genotyping of virus isolates is of great importance. This study presents an accurate method for effectively genotyping SARS-CoV-2 viruses using complete genomes. The method employs the multiple sequence alignments of the genome isolates with the SARS-CoV-2 reference genome. The single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes are then measured by Jaccard distances to track the relationship of virus isolates. The genotyping analysis of SARS-CoV-2 isolates from the globe reveals that specific multiple mutations are the predominated mutation type during the current epidemic. The proposed method serves an effective tool for monitoring and tracking the epidemic of pathogenic viruses in their global and local genetic variations. The genotyping analysis shows that the genes encoding the S proteins and RNA polymerase, RNA primase, and nucleoprotein, undergo frequent mutations. These mutations are critical for vaccine development in disease control.     

The Genetic Variant of SARS-CoV-2: would It Matter for Controlling the Devastating Pandemic?

The pandemic of COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is far from being controlled despite the great effort that have been taken throughout the world. Herd immunity through vaccination is our major expectation to rein the virus. However, the emergence of widespread genetic variants could potentially undermine the vaccines. The evidence that some variants could evade immune responses elicited by vaccines and previous infection is growing. In this review, we summarized the current understanding on five notable genetic variants, i.e., D614G, Cluster 5, VOC 202012/01, 501Y.V2 and P.1, and discussed the potential impact of these variants on the virus transmission, pathogenesis and vaccine efficacy. We also highlight that mutations in the N-terminal domain of spike protein should be considered when evaluating the antibody neutralization abilities. Among these genetic variants, a concern of genetic variant 501Y.V2 to escape the protection by vaccines was raised. We therefore call for new vaccines targeting this variant to be developed.     

Non-synonymous mutations of SARS-CoV-2 leads epitope loss and segregates its variants

The non-synonymous mutations of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from across the world have been identified during the last few months. The surface glycoprotein spike of SARS-CoV-2 forms the most important hotspot for amino acid alterations followed by the ORF1a/ORF1ab poly-proteins. It is evident that the D614G mutation in spike glycoprotein and P4715L in RdRp is the important determinant of SARS-CoV-2 evolution since its emergence. P4715L in RdRp, G251V in ORF3a and S1498F of Nsp3 is associated with the epitope loss that may influence pathogenesis caused by antibody escape variants. The phylogenomics distinguished the ancestral viral samples from China and most part of Asia, isolated since the initial outbreak and the later evolved variants isolated from Europe and Americas. The evolved variants have been found to predominant globally with the loss of epitopes from its proteins. These have implications for SARS-CoV-2 transmission, pathogenesis and immune interventions.     

Experimental Evidence for Enhanced Receptor Binding by Rapidly Spreading SARS-CoV-2 Variants

Rapidly spreading new variants of SARS-CoV-2 carry multiple mutations in the viral spike protein which attaches to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor on host cells. Among these mutations are amino acid changes N501Y (lineage B.1.1.7, first identified in the UK), and the combination N501Y, E484K, K417N (B.1.351, first identified in South Africa), all located at the interface on the receptor binding domain (RBD). We experimentally establish that RBD containing the N501Y mutation results in 7-fold stronger binding to the hACE2 receptor than wild type RBD. The E484K mutation only slightly enhances the affinity for the receptor, while K417N attenuates affinity. As a result, RBD from B.1.351 containing all three mutations binds 3-fold stronger to hACE2 than wild type RBD but 2-fold weaker than N501Y. However, the recently emerging double mutant E484K/N501Y binds even stronger than N501Y. The independent evolution of lineages containing mutations with different effects on receptor binding affinity, viral transmission and immune evasion underscores the importance of global viral genome surveillance and functional characterization.     

A thermodynamic model of protein structure evolution explains empirical amino acid substitution matrices

Proteins evolve under a myriad of biophysical selection pressures that collectively control the patterns of amino acid substitutions. These evolutionary pressures are sufficiently consistent over time and across protein families to produce substitution patterns, summarized in global amino acid substitution matrices such as BLOSUM, JTT, WAG, and LG, which can be used to successfully detect homologs, infer phylogenies, and reconstruct ancestral sequences. Although the factors that govern the variation of amino acid substitution rates have received much attention, the influence of thermodynamic stability constraints remains unresolved. Here we develop a simple model to calculate amino acid substitution matrices from evolutionary dynamics controlled by a fitness function that reports on the thermodynamic effects of amino acid mutations in protein structures. This hybrid biophysical and evolutionary model accounts for nucleotide transition/transversion rate bias, multi‐nucleotide codon changes, the number of codons per amino acid, and thermodynamic protein stability. We find that our theoretical model accurately recapitulates the complex yet universal pattern observed in common global amino acid substitution matrices used in phylogenetics. These results suggest that selection for thermodynamically stable proteins, coupled with nucleotide mutation bias filtered by the structure of the genetic code, is the primary driver behind the global amino acid substitution patterns observed in proteins throughout the tree of life.     

严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2 Omicron变异株研究进展

世界卫生组织(World Health Organization, WHO)于2021年11月26日将首次在南非报告的新型冠状病毒 B．1.1.529 变异株列为受关注变种(variant of concern, VOC),并将其命名为奥密克戎(Omicron)。该变异株存在约50个突变,仅在刺突蛋白区域就有至少30个突变,远远超过其他流行株的突变位点数量。根据对突变位点的分析以及初步实验证实,该毒株可能具有极强的传染性以及免疫逃逸能力。Omicron变异株会怎样影响新冠疫情的走向引起了各国的广泛关注,本文将从Omicron变异株的基本特征、检测、致病性、传染性、免疫逃逸等方面进行综述。     

SARS-CoV-2 Mutations and their Viral Variants

Mutations in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) occur spontaneously during replication. Thousands of mutations have accumulated and continue to since the emergence of the virus. As novel mutations continue appearing at the scene, naturally, new variants are increasingly observed.Since the first occurrence of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, a wide variety of drug compounds affecting the binding sites of the virus have begun to be studied. As the drug and vaccine trials are continuing, it is of utmost importance to take into consideration the SARS-CoV-2 mutations and their respective frequencies since these data could lead the way to multi-drug combinations. The lack of effective therapeutic and preventive strategies against human coronaviruses (hCoVs) necessitates research that is of interest to the clinical applications.The reason why the mutations in glycoprotein S lead to vaccine escape is related to the location of the mutation and the affinity of the protein. At the same time, it can be said that variations should occur in areas such as the receptor-binding domain (RBD), and vaccines and antiviral drugs should be formulated by targeting more than one viral protein.In this review, a literature survey in the scope of the increasing SARS-CoV-2 mutations and the viral variations is conducted. In the light of current knowledge, the various disguises of the mutant SARS-CoV-2 forms and their apparent differences from the original strain are examined as they could possibly aid in finding the most appropriate therapeutic approaches.     

Genomic and epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa

Since late 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has rapidly evolved to become a global pandemic. Each country was affected but with a varying number of infected cases and mortality rates. Africa was hit late by the pandemic but the number of cases rose sharply. In this study, we investigated 224 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID) in the early part of the outbreak, of which 69 were from Africa. We analyzed a total of 550 mutations by comparing them with the reference SARS-CoV-2 sequence from Wuhan. We classified the mutations observed based on country and region, and afterwards analyzed common and unique mutations on the African continent as a whole. Correlation analyses showed that the duo variants ORF1ab/RdRp 4715L and S protein 614G variants, which are strongly linked to fatality rate, were not significantly and positively correlated with fatality rates (r = -0.03757, P = 0.5331 and r = -0.2876, P = 0.6389, respectively), although increased number of cases correlated with number of deaths (r = 0.997, P = 0.0002). Furthermore, most cases in Africa were mainly imported from American and European countries, except one isolate with no mutation and was similar to the original isolate from Wuhan. Moreover, unique mutations specific to countries were identified in the early phase of the outbreak but these mutations were not regional-specific. There were common mutations in all isolates across the continent as well as similar isolate-specific mutations in different regions. Our findings suggest that mutation is rapid in SARS-CoV-2 in Africa and although these mutations spread across the continent, the duo variants could not possibly be the sole cause of COVID-19 deaths in Africa in the early phase of the outbreak.