1. Short Communication:Evidence of Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variants Circulation in Romania
- Author
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Dan Otelea, Robert Hohan, Ovidiu Vlaicu, Dragoş Florea, Corina Casangiu, Petre Milu, Oana Săndulescu, Marius Surleac, Anca Streinu-Cercel, Andreea Tudor, Simona Paraschiv, and Leontina Banica
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Replicative capacity ,Immune protection ,Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Romania ,SARS-CoV-2 ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,Immunology ,COVID-19 ,High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ,Computational biology ,Biology ,Genome ,Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction ,Vaccination ,Evolution, Molecular ,03 medical and health sciences ,030104 developmental biology ,0302 clinical medicine ,Infectious Diseases ,Virology ,Pandemic ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Sequence (medicine) - Abstract
New SARS-CoV-2 variants are constantly emerging and putting a strain on public health systems by spreading faster and potentially evading immune protection through vaccination. One of these strains is the B.1.1.7 variant that has initially been described in the United Kingdom and has subsequently spread to several countries. Monitoring the amplification of the S gene-a major hotspot for molecular evolution-by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) allows rapidly screening for such variants. This report describes the detection of sequence variants in Romania by using this strategy followed by next-generation sequencing of the entire genome for confirmation and further characterization. One B.1.1.7 and three B.1.258 sequences were confirmed. Each of these strains presented additional mutations with possible impact on the replicative capacity. Public health strategies should be devised to ensure molecular monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 evolution during the pandemic and allow adequate and rapid reaction.
- Published
- 2021