GENETIC EVOLUTION OF SARS-CoV-2 VARIANT LINES BASED ON SURFACE GLYCOPROTEIN

Abstract

Thirty five surface glycoprotein (S) sequences of SARS-CoV-2 variants were collected from USA GenBank database. The results of multiple S sequence alignment of SARS-CoV-2 variants identified eight SARS-CoV-2 variant lines with WHO codes: Goc, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Delta Plus, Iota, Kappa and nine SARS-CoV-2 variant lines without WHO codes: N1-N9. The Delta and Delta Plus variant lines have the closest evolutionary relationship with a distance of 0.00236. Next is Iota and Goc 0.00468, Delta and Goc 0.00545. The most distantly related genetic evolution include the Gamma and Delta Plus variant lines with a distance of 0.01493, Gamma and Delta 0.01324, Gamma and Kappa 0.01253, Alpha and Gamma 0.01178, Beta and Delta Plus 0.01139. According to the SIG classification system updated on December 1, 2021, the variant lines Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1), Iota (B.1.526), ​​Kappa (B.1.617.1) belong to the category of variant being monitored (VBM) with severity level 1. The variant lines Delta (B.1.617.2), Delta Plus (AY.1) belong to the category of variant of concern (VOC) with severity level 3