Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Sep 2:9:e11991.
doi: 10.7717/peerj.11991. eCollection 2021.

Genomic analysis of early transmissibility assessment of the D614G mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in travelers returning to Taiwan from the United States of America

Ming-Jr Jian  1 , Hsing-Yi Chung  1 , Chih-Kai Chang  1 , Shan-Shan Hsieh  1 , Jung-Chung Lin  2 , Kuo-Ming Yeh  2 , Chien-Wen Chen  3 , Feng-Yee Chang  2 , Kuo-Sheng Hung  4 , Ming-Tsan Liu  5 , Ji-Rong Yang  5 , Tein-Yao Chang  6 , Sheng-Hui Tang  1 , Cherng-Lih Perng  1 , Hung-Sheng Shang  1
Affiliations

Genomic analysis of early transmissibility assessment of the D614G mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in travelers returning to Taiwan from the United States of America

Ming-Jr Jian et al. PeerJ. .

Abstract

Background: There is a global pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Information on viral genomics is crucial for understanding global dispersion and for providing insight into viral pathogenicity and transmission. Here, we characterized the SARS-CoV-2 genomes isolated from five travelers who returned to Taiwan from the United States of America (USA) between March and April 2020.

Methods: Haplotype network analysis was performed using genome-wide single-nucleotide variations to trace potential infection routes. To determine the genetic variations and evolutionary trajectory of the isolates, the genomes of isolates were compared to those of global virus strains from GISAID. Pharyngeal specimens were confirmed to be SARS-CoV-2-positive by RT-PCR. Direct whole-genome sequencing was performed, and viral assemblies were subsequently uploaded to GISAID. Comparative genome sequence and single-nucleotide variation analyses were performed.

Results: The D614G mutation was identified in imported cases, which separated into two clusters related to viruses originally detected in the USA. Our findings highlight the risk of spreading SARS-CoV-2 variants through air travel and the need for continued genomic tracing for the epidemiological investigation and surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 using viral genomic data.

Conclusions: Continuous genomic surveillance is warranted to trace virus circulation and evolution in different global settings during future outbreaks.

Keywords: COVID-19; Imported case; Phylogenetic analysis; SARS-CoV-2; Whole-genome sequencing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Phylogenetic analysis of the genomes of 129 strains of SARS-CoV-2 linking the five imported cases of the current study to previously reported genome sequences.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Haplotype network established using genome-wide single-nucleotide variations of SARS-CoV-2 isolates.
The haplotype of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences for five strains (TSGH-04, TSGH-08, TSGH-22, TSGH-23, and TSGH-29) isolated from five different patients was found to localize in two clusters, which were mainly comprised by North America and European isolates.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Al-Zyoud W, Haddad H. Mutational sensitivity of D614G in spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in Jordan. Biochemistry Biophysics Reports. 2021;25:100896. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2020.100896. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andersen KG, Rambaut A, Lipkin WI, Holmes EC, Garry RF. The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. Nature Medicine. 2020;26:450–452. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chang W-H. The influences of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical service behaviors. Taiwanese Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2020;59:821–827. doi: 10.1016/j.tjog.2020.09.007. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen C-C, Tseng C-Y, Choi W-M, Lee Y-C, Su T-H, Hsieh C-Y, Chang C-M, Weng S-L, Liu P-H, Tai Y-L, Lin C-Y. Taiwan government-guided strategies contributed to combating and controlling COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in Public Health. 2020;8:547423. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.547423. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cheng H-Y, Jian S-W, Liu D-P, Ng T-C, Huang W-T, Lin H-H, Team TC-OI. Contact tracing assessment of COVID-19 transmission dynamics in taiwan and risk at different exposure periods before and after symptom onset. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2020;180:1156–1163. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.2020. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources