Zeinab Hassan

Citation:

Zekri, A. - R. N., K. Easa Amer, M. M. Hafez, Z. K. Hassan, O. S. Ahmed, H. K. Soliman, A. A. Bahnasy, W. Abdel Hamid, A. Gad, M. Ali, et al., "Genomic characterization of SARS-CoV-2 in Egypt.", Journal of advanced research, vol. 30, pp. 123-132, 2021.

Abstract:

Introduction: The novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread throughout the globe, causing a pandemic. In Egypt over 115,000 individuals were infected so far.

Objective: In the present study, the objective is to perform a complete genome sequence of SAR-CoV2 isolated from Egyptian coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients.

Methods: Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from 61 COVID-19 patients who attended at National Cancer Institute, Kasr Al-Aini Hospital and the army hospital. Viral RNA was extracted and whole genomic sequencing was conducted using Next Generation Sequencing.

Results: In all cases, the sequenced virus has at least 99% identity to the reference Wuhan 1. The sequence analysis showed 204 distinct genome variations including 114 missense mutations, 72 synonymous mutations, 1 disruptive in-frame deletion, 7 downstream gene mutations, 6 upstream gene mutations, 3 frame-shift deletions, and 1 in-frame deletion. The most dominant clades were G/GH/GR/O and the dominant type is B.

Conclusion: The whole genomic sequence of SARS-CoV2 showed 204 variations in the genomes of the Egyptian isolates, where the Asp614Gly (D614G) substitution is the most common among the samples (60/61). So far, there were no strikingly variations specific to the Egyptian population, at least for this set of samples.