Analysis of Three Mutations in Italian Strains of SARS-CoV-2: Implications for Pathogenesis

Domenico Benvenuto; Francesca Benedetti; Ayse Banu Demir; Massimo Ciccozzi; Davide Zella

doi:10.1159/000515342

Analysis of Three Mutations in Italian Strains of SARS-CoV-2: Implications for Pathogenesis

Chemotherapy. 2021;66(1-2):33-37. doi: 10.1159/000515342. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Authors

Domenico Benvenuto¹, Francesca Benedetti², Ayse Banu Demir³, Massimo Ciccozzi¹, Davide Zella⁴

Affiliations

¹ Medical Statistic and Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy.
² Institute of Human Virology and Global Virus Network Center, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
³ Department of Medical Biology, School of Medicine, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey.
⁴ Institute of Human Virology and Global Virus Network Center, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, DZella@ihv.umaryland.edu.

Abstract

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an enveloped virus initially detected in Wuhan in December 2019, responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory syndrome currently affecting >220 countries around the world, with >80 million cases registered and >1.8 million deaths.

Objective: As several vaccines are still being developed and 2 have been approved, it is particularly important to perform evolutionary surveillance to identify mutations potentially affecting vaccine efficacy.

Methods: DynaMut server has been used to evaluate the impact of the mutation found on SARS-CoV-2 isolates available on GISAID.

Results: In this article, we analyze whole genomes sequenced from Italian patients, and we report the characterization of 3 mutations, one of which presents in the spike protein.

Conclusion: The mutations analyzed in this article can be useful to evaluate the evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: Bioinformatic; Coronavirus disease 2019; Evolutionary analysis; Protein modeling; Syndrome coronavirus 2.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / diagnosis
COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / virology
Epidemiological Monitoring
Humans
Italy / epidemiology
Mutation
SARS-CoV-2* / genetics
SARS-CoV-2* / isolation & purification
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / genetics*
Whole Genome Sequencing / methods

Substances

Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus