Emergence of a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Virus Variant With Novel Genomic Architecture in Hong Kong
Herman Tse, David Christopher Lung, Sally C. Y. Wong, Ka-Fai Ip, Tak-Chiu Wu, Kelvin Kai‐Wang To, Kin‐Hang Kok, Kwok‐Yung Yuen, Garnet Kwan-Yue Choi
Abstract
Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, divergent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) lineages have emerged continuously, mostly through the genomic accumulation of substitutions. We report the discovery of a SARS-CoV-2 variant with a novel genomic architecture characterized by absent ORF7a, ORF7b, and ORF8, and a C-terminally modified ORF6 product resulting from partial 5'-untranslated region (UTR) duplication and transposition.
Topics & Concepts
Gene duplicationCoronavirusVirologyUntranslated regionTransposition (logic)PandemicMedicineGenomeCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)VirusGeneticsBiologyGeneDiseaseRNAPathologyInfectious disease (medical specialty)LinguisticsPhilosophySARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchAnimal Virus Infections StudiesViral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology