SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Lebanon: Evolution and Current Situation

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has seen a worldwide spread since its emergence in 2019, including to Lebanon, where 534,968 confirmed cases (8% of the population) and 7569 deaths have been reported as of 14 May 2021. With the genome sequencing of strains from variou...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-06, Vol.10 (6), p.531
Main Authors: Fayad, Nancy, Abi Habib, Walid, Kandeil, Ahmed, El-Shesheny, Rabeh, Kamel, Mina Nabil, Mourad, Youmna, Mokhbat, Jacques, Kayali, Ghazi, Goldstein, Jimi, Abdallah, Jad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino acids
clades
Classification
Classification systems
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Disease transmission
Epidemiology
Genomes
GISAID
Infectivity
Lebanon
Mutation
mutations
Pandemics
phylogenetic relationship
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Proteins
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Spike protein
Strains (organisms)
Structural proteins
Viruses
Whole genome sequencing
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has seen a worldwide spread since its emergence in 2019, including to Lebanon, where 534,968 confirmed cases (8% of the population) and 7569 deaths have been reported as of 14 May 2021. With the genome sequencing of strains from various countries, several classification systems were established via genome comparison. For instance, the GISAID clades classification highlights key mutations in the encoded proteins that could potentially affect the virus' infectivity and transmission rates. In this study, 58 genomes of Lebanese SARS-CoV-2 strains were analyzed, 28 of which were sequenced for this study, and 30 retrieved from the GISAID and GenBank databases. We aimed to classify these strains, establish their phylogenetic relationships, and extract the mutations causing amino acid substitutions within, particularly, the structural proteins. The sequenced Lebanese SARS-COV-2 strains were classified into four GISAID clades and 11 Pango lineages. Moreover, 21 uncommon mutations in the structural proteins were found in the newly sequenced strains, underlining interesting combinations of mutations in the spike proteins. Hence, this study constitutes an observation and description of the current SARS-CoV-2 genetic and clade situation in Lebanon according to the available sequenced strains.
ISSN:2079-7737
2079-7737
DOI:10.3390/biology10060531