英国牛津大学Tanya Golubchik等研究人员合作揭示宿主内SARS-CoV-2的多样性和传播力。该研究于2021年3月9日在线发表于国际一流学术期刊《科学》。

为了表征宿主内部的多样性和传播，研究人员对来自英国的1313个临床样品进行了深度测序。SARS-CoV-2感染的特点是病毒载量高时宿主内部的多样性水平低，且传播时出现瓶颈。大多数变异要么丢失，要么偶尔稳定下来，而且共有的多样性很少能够持久，这种模式在系统发生树上很容易观察到。

这些结果表明，增强传播和/或免疫逃逸的变体很可能较少出现，但如果成功传播，可能会迅速传播。 

据了解，大流行性病毒SARS-CoV-2的广泛全球采样和测序已使研究人员能够监控其传播，并确定新的变异体。变异传播的两个重要决定因素是它们在个体中出现的频率以及传播的可能性。

附：英文原文

Title: SARS-CoV-2 within-host diversity and transmission

Author: Katrina A. Lythgoe, Matthew Hall, Luca Ferretti, Mariateresa de Cesare, George MacIntyre-Cockett, Amy Trebes, Monique Andersson, Newton Otecko, Emma L. Wise, Nathan Moore, Jessica Lynch, Stephen Kidd, Nicholas Cortes, Matilde Mori, Rebecca Williams, Gabrielle Vernet, Anita Justice, Angie Green, Samuel M. Nicholls, M. Azim Ansari, Lucie Abeler-Drner, Catrin E. Moore, Timothy E. A. Peto, David W. Eyre, Robert Shaw, Peter Simmonds, David Buck, John A. Todd, on behalf of the Oxford Virus Sequencing Analysis Group (OVSG), Thomas R. Connor, Shirin Ashraf, Ana da Silva Filipe, James Shepherd, Emma C. Thomson, The COVID- Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium§, David Bonsall, Christophe Fraser, Tanya Golubchik

Issue&Volume: 2021/03/09

Abstract: Extensive global sampling and sequencing of the pandemic virus SARS-CoV-2 have enabled researchers to monitor its spread, and to identify concerning new variants. Two important determinants of variant spread are how frequently they arise within individuals, and how likely they are to be transmitted. To characterize within-host diversity and transmission we deep-sequenced 1313 clinical samples from the UK. SARS-CoV-2 infections are characterized by low levels of within-host diversity when viral loads are high, and a narrow bottleneck at transmission. Most variants are either lost, or occasionally fixed, at the point of transmission, with minimal persistence of shared diversity - patterns which are readily observable on the phylogenetic tree. Our results suggest that transmission-enhancing and/or immune-escape variants are likely to arise infrequently, but could spread rapidly if successfully transmitted.

DOI: 10.1126/science.abg0821

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/03/09/science.abg0821