Identification of Novel Missense Mutations in a Large Number of Recent SARS-Cov-2 Genome Sequences
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J Biotechnol Biomed 2020; 3 (3): 093-103 DOI: 10.26502/jbb.2642-91280030 Research Article Identification of Novel Missense Mutations in a Large Number of Recent SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequences Hugh Y Cai1*, Kimberly K Cai2, Julang Li3* 1Animal Health Laboratory, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada 2Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton and Forbes Park Medical Centre, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada 3Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada *Corresponding Author: Hugh Y Cai, Animal Health Laboratory, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, E-mail: [email protected] *Corresponding Author: Julang Li, Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, E-mail: [email protected] Received: 19 May 2020; Accepted: 08 June 2020; Published: 20 July 2020 Citation: Hugh Y Cai, Kimberly K Cai, Julang Li. Identification of Novel Missense Mutations in a Large Number of Recent SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequences. Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine 3 (2020): 93-103. Abstract Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection has spread to sequences had been deposited in GenBank, and over over 200 countries since it was first reported in 8,200 in the GISAID database. December of 2019. Significant country-specific variations in infection and mortality rate have been Methods: We performed a sequence analysis on 474 noted. Although country-specific differences in public SARS-CoV-2 genomes submitted to GenBank up to health response have had a large impact on infection April 11, 2020 by multiple alignment using Map to a rate control, it is currently unclear as to whether Reference Assembly and Variants/SNP identification. evolution of the virus itself has also contributed to The results were verified on a larger scale, 8,126 hCoV- variations in infection and mortality rate. Previous 19 (SARS-CoV-2) sequences from GISAID database. studies on SARS-CoV-2 mutations were based on the analysis of ~ 160 SARS-CoV-2 sequences available until Results: We identified 5 recently emerged mutations in mid-February 2020. By mid-April, > 550 SARS-CoV-2 many isolates (up to 40%). Our analysis highlights 5 Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine 93 J Biotechnol Biomed 2020; 3 (3): 093-103 DOI: 10.26502/jbb.2642-91280030 frequent new mutations that have emerged since late then more recently the US with 723,605 confirmed a February 2020. These mutations are: one each missense cases and 34,203 deaths, and other countries (WHO, (non-synonymous) mutation in orf1ab (C1059T), orf3 April 20, 2020). Although country-specific differences (G25563T) and orf8 (C27964T), one in 5’UTR in public health response have had a large impact on (C241T), one in a non-coding region (G29553A). The infection rate control, it is currently unclear as to final mutation (G29553A) was found to be almost whether evolution of the virus itself has also contributed exclusive to the US isolates. The first 3 mutations are to variations in infection and mortality rate. non-synonymous, leading to amino acid substitutions in the viral protein sequence. Except for C241T, all the RNA viruses possess a high mutation rate, ranging from novel mutations identified are absent in the isolates 10−4–10−6 mutations per round of genome replication from Italy and Spain in the SARS-CoV-2 genomes [1]. Over 45 mutations have been described since the deposited in GenBank and GISAID by April 13, 2020. first SARS-CoV-2 sequence was identified in Jan 2020 [2-5]. However, these previous studies were based on Conclusion: The results of current study indicate that the analysis of ~ 160 SARS-CoV-2 sequences available new mutations are emerging as COVID-19 pandemic until mid-February 2020 [2-5]. By mid-April, > 550 are spreading to different countries and that geography SARS-CoV-2 sequences had been deposited in specific mutants may exist. The findings of the current GenBank, and over 8,200 in the GISAID database. The study lay the foundation for further investigation into geographic sources of the sequences have changed the impact of SARS-CoV-2 mutations on disease significantly. To provide a most recent view of the incidence, severity, and host immune response. In genetic variation of SARS-CoV-2, we retrieved 474 addition, it may also provide insights into vaccine complete or close-to-complete genomes (>29,100 nt) development and serological response detection for the from the National Center for Biotechnology Information virus. (NCBI) to search for novel and high-frequency mutations. GenBank SARS-CoV-2 genomes were Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Virus; compared with those of the GISAID hCoV-19 database, Mutation; Polymorphism; Genome sequencing consisting of 8,008 SARS-CoV-2s complete or close-to- complete genomes (>29,100 nt). We discovered that 1. Introduction many SARS-CoV-2 isolates possessed mutations that Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 were not described previously. (SARS-CoV-2), a RNA corona virus, is the pathogen of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Since it was 2. Methods first reported to the WHO in December 2019, it has On April 11, 2020, there were 547 SARS-Cov-2 spread to 213 countries, areas, or territories, causing sequences deposited in GenBank, from which, we 2,356,414 confirmed infections and 160,120 death downloaded 474 complete or near-complete genomes of worldwide (WHO April 20, 2020). The COVID-19 29,161 to 29,866 nucleotides (nt) (hereafter referred as outbreak happened firstly in China with 84,237 full genome), including 358 from the US, 64 from confirmed cases and 4,642 deaths, then seriously hit China, 24 from Spain, and 27 from other countries or Italy with 178,972 confirmed cases and 23,660 deaths, regions (Table 1). The SARS-CoV-2 isolate Wuhan-Hu- Spain with 195,944 confirmed cases and 20,453 deaths, 1 collected in December 19, 2019 and deposited in Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine 94 J Biotechnol Biomed 2020; 3 (3): 093-103 DOI: 10.26502/jbb.2642-91280030 GenBank in January 2020 (GenBank accession. GenBank. Among all 474 full genome sequences in NC045512) [6] was used as a reference for mutation GenBank, 48 collected from the US in March 2020 have analysis. All nucleotide position labeling in our study a G29553A mutation. In addition, a mutation (C241T) was based on the alignment with this sequence. The was found in 30.8% (109/354) US isolates collected SARS-CoV-2 full genome sequences (474 in total) mostly in March 2020. The GenBank accessions of the downloaded from GenBank were multiple aligned by a isolates that we found with the novel mutations are bioinformatic software, Geneious v.11 (Auckland, New shown in supplement Table S1. Of the 5 mutations Zealand) using Map to a Reference Assembly function. described above, 3 mutations are substitution mutations The aligned sequences were visually examined to in the coding regions, which resulted in amino acid confirm that they were aligned properly. The sequence changes (missense mutation; non-synonymous variants/SNP were identified by the software mutations). They are C1059T causing amino acid 265 automatically and verified by visual confirmation. Short mutation from T to I (T265I) in orf1ab, G25563T fragments (30 nt) containing the novel mutations (Q57H) in orf3a, C27964T (S24L) in orf8. The identified in our study were used as queries to blast G29553A mutation is in a noncoding region upstream of search against the sequences downloaded from orf10; the C241T mutation is at the 5’ untranslated GenBank to verify the existence of the mutations. To (5’UTR) region. These mutations have not been verify our findings on a larger scale, 8,126 hCoV-19 described previously, to our knowledge, and were found (SARS-CoV-2) sequences from GISAID (Global only in the isolates submitted mostly in and after March Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data) website 2020 (including a few isolates in late February; Table (https://www.gisaid.org) were downloaded and analyzed 1). The representative images of the 5 mutations are with the same methods as described above for the shown in supplement Figure S1. GenBank sequences. 3.2 Proposed classification of the new SARS-CoV-2 3. Results and Discussion isolates 3.1 Identification of 5 novel mutations Recently, the SARS-CoV-2 isolates have been classified From the 474 sequences available in GenBank, a group into 3 clusters (groups), namely group A, B and C, of 100 SARS-CoV-2 genomes were found to have a based on 3 mutations [2]. The original isolates without nucleotide (nt 25563) mutated from G to T (G25563T). mutation collected in Dec 2019 from China were The mutation was exclusive to the US isolate sequences classified as group A; the isolates with C8782T/Y and collected since March 2020 in the GenBank T28144C mutations were labeled as group B (mutated (downloaded April 11, 2020). The new mutants from group A); when group B isolates mutated with accounts for 21.1% (100/474) of all full genome G26144T, the mutated isolates were labeled as group C. sequences submitted to GenBank, or 27.9% (100/358) The isolates with the 3 nonsynonymous (missense) of the US full genome sequences in GenBank. Most of mutations identified in our study did not fall in the the G25563T isolates (94/100) co-possessed a C1059T category of group A, B, C, since they had many mutation. Moreover, 16 of the G25563T isolates had an mutations on top of group A, but did not have marker additional C27964T mutation, which accounts for 3.4% mutations C8782T/Y and T28144C (group B), nor (16/474) of all full genome GenBank sequences, or G26144T (group C). To be consistent with the recent 4.5% (16/354) of the US full genome sequences in cluster (group) classification [2], we classified the Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine 95 J Biotechnol Biomed 2020; 3 (3): 093-103 DOI: 10.26502/jbb.2642-91280030 isolates with novel amino acid changes as follow: Although a fairly representative snapshot, the GenBank C1059T(T265I) and G25563T(Q57H) usually co- information is obviously not a complete picture.