Distribution of intra-host variations and mutations in the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 and their implications on detection and therapeutics

Abstract

The ongoing circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) has caused global concerns, because VOCs could escape current vaccines, antiviral drugs, and diagnosis. Analyzing mutations and intra-host diversities in different and widespread VOCs can provide important insights to virus adaptive evolution and validity of vaccines, antiviral drugs, and diagnosis. In this study, by analyzing 1744 high-throughput sequencing data for intra-host single-nucleotide variations (iSNVs) and 3,668,205 genome sequences for mutations in different VOCs, it was found that Omicron variant is still evolving at high speed, especially having high iSNVs frequency in its S and N genes. The efficacies of antibodies or detection primers targeting these two genes are at high risks to be invalid. Instead, highly conserved regions such as NSP8 gene could be better therapeutic and detection targets. Furthermore, mutations in later VOCs could be traced to the minor alleles in the previous variant samples such as Alpha and Delta in different countries. Finally, it was found that mutations C14408T in RdRp and A18163G in NSP14 gene might be associated with the higher genetic diversity in Omicron. Our findings not only contribute to understanding the adaptive evolution of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs, but also provide useful information for both drugs and diagnostic kits development.