Evolving sequence mutations in the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

Journal of Infection and Public Health

Balavenkatesh Manie¹  Mohammed AlDrees²  Sameera AlJohani³  Udayaraja GK³  Ali Hajeer³  Anis Khan⁴  Mohammed Ali AlBalwi⁵  Ahmed AlAskar⁶  Majed Alghoribi⁶  Ibrahim Alabdulkareem⁷  Abdulaziz AlAjlan⁷  Yaseen Arabi⁸ 

[1] Corresponding author at: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard - Health Affairs, P. O. Box 22490, Riyadh 11426, Saudi Arabia.;King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;Laboratory Medicine, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;;Department of Pathology &Integrated Gulf Biosytems, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;The University of Sydney, Sydney, Austria;

关键词: MERS-CoV;    SARS-CoV;    Substitutions;    Zoonosis;    Saudi Arabia;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Background: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has continued to cause sporadic outbreaks of severe respiratory tract infection over the last 8 years. Methods: Complete genome sequencing using next-generation sequencing was performed for MERS-CoV isolates from cases that occurred in Riyadh between 2015 and 2019. Phylogenetic analysis and molecular mutational analysis were carried out to investigate disease severity. Results: A total of eight MERS-CoV isolates were subjected to complete genome sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis resulted in the assembly of 7/8 sequences within lineage 3 and one sequence within lineage 4 showing complex genomic recombination. The isolates contained a variety of unique amino acid substitutions in ORF1ab (41), the N protein (10), the S protein (9) and ORF4b (5). Conclusion: Our study shows that MERS-CoV is evolving. The emergence of new variants carries the potential for increased virulence and could impose a challenge to the global health system. We recommend the sequencing every new MERS-CoV isolate to observe the changes in the virus and relate them to clinical outcomes.

【 授权许可】

Unknown