Periodically Aperiodic Pattern of SARS-CoV-2 Mutations Underpins the Uncertainty of Its Origin and Evolution
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Keywords
Sars-cov-2, Invariant Residues, Mutations, Relative Frequency, Aperiodically Periodic
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112092
Abstract
Various lineages of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) have contributed to prolongation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Several non-synonymous mutations in SARS-CoV-2 proteins have generated multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants. In our previous report, we have shown that an evenly uneven distribution of unique protein variants of SARS-CoV-2 is geo-location or demography-specific. However, the correlation between the demographic transmutability of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and mutations in various proteins remains unknown due to hidden symmetry/asymmetry in the occurrence of mutations. This study tracked how these mutations are emerging in SARS-CoV-2 proteins in six model countries and globally. In a geo-location, considering the mutations having a frequency of detection of at least 500 in each SARS-CoV-2 protein, we studied the country-wise percentage of invariant residues. Our data revealed that since October 2020, highly frequent mutations in SARS-CoV-2 have been observed mostly in the Open Reading Frame (ORF) 7b and ORF8, worldwide. No such highly frequent mutations in any of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins were found in the UK, India, and Brazil, which does not correlate with the degree of transmissibility of the virus in India and Brazil. However, we have found a signature that SARS-CoV-2 proteins were evolving at a higher rate, and considering global data, mutations are detected in the majority of the available amino acid locations. Fractal analysis of each protein's normalized factor time series showed a periodically aperiodic emergence of dominant variants for SARS-CoV-2 protein mutations across different countries. It was noticed that certain high-frequency variants have emerged in the last couple of months, and thus the emerging SARS-CoV-2 strains are expected to contain prevalent mutations in the ORF3a, membrane, and ORF8 proteins. In contrast to other beta-coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 variants have rapidly emerged based on demographically dependent mutations. Characterization of the periodically aperiodic nature of the demographic spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants in various countries can contribute to the identification of the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Environmental Research, v. 204, issue Part B, art. 112092
Scholar Commons Citation
Sarif Hassan, Sk.; Basu, Pallab; Redwan, Elrashdy M.; Lundstrom, Kenneth; Choudhury, Pabitra Pal; Serrano-Aroca, Ángel; Azad, Gajendra Kumar; Aljabali, Alaa A. A.; Palù, Giorgio; Abd El-Aziz, Tarek Mohamed; Barh, Debmalya; Uhal, Bruce D.; Adadi, Parise; Takayama, Kazuo; Bazan, Nicolas G.; Tambuwala, Murtaza M.; Lal, Amos; Chauhan, Gaurav; Baetas-da-Cruz, Wagner; Sherchan, Samendra P.; and Uversky, Vladimir N., "Periodically Aperiodic Pattern of SARS-CoV-2 Mutations Underpins the Uncertainty of Its Origin and Evolution" (2022). Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications. 1016.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/mme_facpub/1016