Molecular evolution of the SARS coronavirus during the course of the SARS epidemic in China.

Science (New York, N.Y.) ·Vol. 303 ·No. 5664 ·2004-03-12 ·Pages 1666-9

Chinese SARS Molecular Epidemiology Consortium

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.

MeSH Terms

Adaptation, Physiological Amino Acid Substitution Animals Base Sequence Carnivora/virology China/epidemiology Cluster Analysis Coronavirus/genetics,isolation & purification Coronavirus M Proteins Disease Outbreaks Evolution, Molecular Genome, Viral Genotype Humans Membrane Glycoproteins/genetics Molecular Sequence Data Mutation Nucleic Acid Conformation Open Reading Frames Phylogeny Point Mutation RNA, Viral/genetics SARS Virus/genetics,isolation & purification,physiology Selection, Genetic Sequence Deletion Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/epidemiology,virology Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus Viral Envelope Proteins/genetics Viral Matrix Proteins/chemistry,genetics

Chemicals

Coronavirus M Proteins M protein, SARS-CoV Membrane Glycoproteins RNA, Viral Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus Viral Envelope Proteins Viral Matrix Proteins spike glycoprotein, SARS-CoV

Authors & Affiliations

1 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID

Chinese SARS Molecular Epidemiology Consortium

Article Info

Journal

Science (New York, N.Y.)

Abbr.

Science

ISSN

1095-9203

DOI

10.1126/science.1092002

Published

2004-03-12

Epub

2004-00-29

Pages

1666-9

Language

English

Region

United States

NLM ID

0404511

Subset

External Links

PubMed source DOI: 10.1126/science.1092002 View journal details

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Molecular evolution of the SARS coronavirus during the course of the SARS epidemic in China.

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