Molecular Evolution of the SARS Coronavirus During the Course of the SARS Epidemic in China
Abstract
Sixty-one SARS coronavirus genomic sequences derived from the early, middle, and late phases of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic were analyzed together with two viral sequences from palm civets. Genotypes characteristic of each phase were discovered, and the earliest genotypes were similar to the animal SARS-like coronaviruses. Major deletions were observed in the Orf8 region of the genome, both at the start and the end of the epidemic. The neutral mutation rate of the viral genome was constant but the amino acid substitution rate of the coding sequences slowed during the course of the epidemic. The spike protein showed the strongest initial responses to positive selection pressures, followed by subsequent purifying selection and eventual stabilization.
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References and Notes
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SARS-like coronaviruses were isolated from palm civets farmed domestically in Hubei Province, China, by Hu et al. at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Partial genome sequencing revealed an 82-nt deletion within the Orf8 region, which is identical to that found in human SARS-CoV isolates from the early patients of Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, China. Contamination can be ruled out because no human SARS-CoV isolate with the 82-nt deletion has ever been found in that institute or has been isolated in that region of China.
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Science
Volume 303 | Issue 5664
12 March 2004
12 March 2004
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American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Received: 29 September 2003
Accepted: 14 January 2004
Published in print: 12 March 2004
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Molecular Evolution of the SARS Coronavirus During the Course of the SARS Epidemic in China.Science303,1666-1669(2004).DOI:10.1126/science.1092002
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