Genetic drift of human coronavirus OC43 spike gene during adaptive evolution

Coronaviruses (CoVs) continuously threaten human health. However, to date, the evolutionary mechanisms that govern CoV strain persistence in human populations have not been fully understood. In this study, we characterized the evolution of the major antigen-spike (S) gene in the most prevalent human...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2015-06, Vol.5 (1), p.11451-11451, Article 11451
Main Authors: Ren, Lili, Zhang, Yue, Li, Jianguo, Xiao, Yan, Zhang, Jing, Wang, Ying, Chen, Lan, Paranhos-Baccalà, Gláucia, Wang, Jianwei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/181/735
631/326/596/2554
Coronaviridae
Coronavirus OC43, Human - genetics
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Evolution
Evolution & development
Evolution, Molecular
Genes
Genes, Viral
Genetic Drift
Genetic Variation
Genetics
Genotype
Genotype & phenotype
Genotypes
Human populations
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
multidisciplinary
Science
Selection, Genetic
Sugar
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Summary:Coronaviruses (CoVs) continuously threaten human health. However, to date, the evolutionary mechanisms that govern CoV strain persistence in human populations have not been fully understood. In this study, we characterized the evolution of the major antigen-spike (S) gene in the most prevalent human coronavirus (HCoV) OC43 using phylogenetic and phylodynamic analysis. Among the five known HCoV-OC43 genotypes (A to E), higher substitution rates and dN/dS values as well as more positive selection sites were detected in the S gene of genotype D, corresponding to the most dominant HCoV epidemic in recent years. Further analysis showed that the majority of substitutions were located in the S1 subunit. Among them, seven positive selection sites were chronologically traced in the temporal evolution routes of genotype D and six were located around the critical sugar binding region in the N-terminal domain (NTD) of S protein, an important sugar binding domain of CoV. These findings suggest that the genetic drift of the S gene may play an important role in genotype persistence in human populations, providing insights into the mechanisms of HCoV-OC43 adaptive evolution.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep11451