TITLE:
Comparison of Whole-Genome Sequences of COVID-19 Strains in Wuhan-China, USA and Spain to Determine Source of Epidemic
AUTHORS:
Zaidan Khlaif Imran, Kawther Mohammed Ali Hasan
KEYWORDS:
COVID-19, USA, China, Epidemic, Multiple Alignment, Mutation, Phylogeny Tree
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Infectious Diseases,
Vol.10 No.3,
May
27,
2020
ABSTRACT: Background: The World Health Organization declared the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak a global public health emergency from Wuhan/China to others countries. Methodology: Genetic analyses of sixty eight complete genomes of SARS-CoV-2 (38 reference strain from China, 24 strain from USA and 7 strains from Spain and others from Japan and Korea) were performed. By the Bio Edit software a multiple alignment of the COVID-19 sequences was performed for each of America (24 strains) and China (38 strains) separately, also, multiple alignments were made with 68 sequences of strains of the virus from each of America, China and Spain. The mutation in complete genome of virus was detected. Phylogeny tree representative strains from China, USA, Spain and Japan with two MERS strains one from KSA and one from Korea as comparable. Results: The result shown that 31.6% had point mutations in Chinese strains, 73.9% in USA and 71.4 mutant strains in Spain. Most of the mutation occurred ORF1ab, OFR7a, S gene and ORF6a respectively in China, USA and Spain strains. Conclusion: The conclusion shown that there is a high genetic identity between the selected strains of virus in China-Wuhan and those that spread in America and Spain, which indicates that the epidemic center is coming from China. These observations provided evidence of the genetic diversity and rapid evolution of this novel coronavirus.