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Infect Genet Evol
. 2020 May 30;104387.
doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104387. Online ahead of print.
SARS-CoV-2 Molecular and Phylogenetic Analysis in COVID-19 Patients: A Preliminary Report From Iran
Alireza Tabibzadeh 1 , Farhad Zamani 2 , Azadeh Laali 3 , Maryam Esghaei 1 , Fahimeh Safarnezhad Tameshkel 2 , Hossein Keyvani 4 , Mahin Jamshidi Makiani 3 , Mahshid Panahi 5 , Nima Motamed 6 , Dhayaneethie Perumal 7 , Mahmoodreza Khoonsari 2 , Hossein Ajdarkosh 2 , Masodreza Sohrabi 2 , Behrooz Ghanbari 2 , Shokoufeh Savaj 8 , Alireza Mosavi-Jarrahi 9 , Mohammad Hadi Karbalaie Niya 10
Affiliations
- PMID: 32485332
- DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104387
Abstract
Background: The aim of the current study was to investigate and track the SARS-CoV-2 in Iranian Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients using molecular and phylogenetic methods.
Methods: We enrolled seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients for the phylogenetic assessment of the SARS-CoV-2 in Iran. The nsp-2, nsp-12, and S genes were amplified using one-step RT-PCR and sequenced using Sanger sequencing method. Popular bioinformatics software were used for sequences alignment and analysis as well as phylogenetic construction.
Results: The mean age of the patients in the present study was 60.42 ? 9.94 years and 57.1% (4/7) were male. The results indicated high similarity between Iranian and Chinese strains. We could not find any particular polymorphisms in the assessed regions of the three genes. Phylogenetic trees by neighbor-joining and maximum likelihood method of nsp-2, nsp-12, and S genes showed that there are not any differences between Iranian isolates and those of other countries.
Conclusion: As a preliminary phylogenetic study in Iranian SARS-CoV-2 isolates, we found that these isolates are closely related to the Chinese and reference sequences. Also, no sensible differences were observed between Iranian isolates and those of other countries. Further investigations are recommended using more comprehensive methods and larger sample sizes.
Keywords: COVID-19; Pandemic; Phylogeny; Viral infection.