Genetic determinants of SARS-CoV-2 and the clinical outcome of COVID-19 in Southern Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a severe impact on population health. The genetic determinants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in southern Bangladesh are not well understood. Methods: This study aimed to determine the genomic variation in SARS-CoV-2 genomes that have evolved over 2 years of the pandemic in southern Bangladesh and their association with disease outcomes and virulence of this virus. We investigated demographic variables, disease outcomes of COVID-19 patients and genomic features of SARS-CoV-2. Results: We observed that the disease severity was significantly higher in adults (85.3%) than in children (14.7%), because the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) diminishes with ageing that causes differences in innate and adaptive immunity. The clade GK (n = 66) was remarkable between June 2021 and January 2022. Because of the mutation burden, another clade, GRA started a newly separated clustering in December 2021. The burden was significantly higher in GRA (1.5-fold) highlighted in mild symptoms of COVID-19 patients than in other clades (GH, GK, and GR). Mutations were accumulated mainly in S (22.15 mutations per segment) and ORF1ab segments. Missense (67.5%) and synonymous (18.31%) mutations were highly noticed in adult patients with mild cases rather than severe cases, especially in ORF1ab segments. Moreover, we observed many unique mutations in S protein in mild cases compared to severe, and homology modeling revealed that those might cause more folding in the protein's alpha helix and beta sheets. Conclusion: Our study identifies some risk factors such as age comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, and renal disease) that are associated with severe COVID-19, providing valuable insight regarding prioritizing vaccination for high-risk individuals and allocating health care and resources. The findings of this work outlined the knowledge and mutational basis of SARS-CoV-2 for the next treatment steps. Further studies are needed to confirm the effects of structural and functional proteins of SARS-CoV-2 in detail for monitoring the emergence of new variants in future.