Open AccessPhylogenomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 from third wave clusters in Malaysia reveals dominant local lineage B.1.524 and persistent spike mutation A701V
Author(s) -
Jeyanthi Suppiah,
K. Kamel,
Z Mohd-Zawawi,
M A Afizan,
Hanis Mastura Yahya,
S A Md-Hanif,
Ravindran Thayan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
tropical biomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.271
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 2521-9855
pISSN - 0127-5720
DOI - 10.47665/tb.38.3.070
Subject(s) - biology , lineage (genetic) , spike (software development) , mutation , covid-19 , genetics , spike protein , virology , evolutionary biology , gene , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , medicine , management , economics , pathology
The emergence of a third wave of COVID-19 infection in Malaysia since September 2020 has led to imminent changes in public health prevention and control measures. As high as 96.2% of registered COVID-19 cases and 88.5% of confirmed deaths in Malaysia occurred during this third wave of infection. A phylogenomic study on 258 SARS-CoV-2 full genomes from February 2020-February 2021 has led to the discovery of a novel Malaysian lineage B.1.524. This lineage contains another spike mutation A701V that co-exists with the D614G spike mutation that was predominant in most of the third-wave clusters. The study provides vital genomic insights on the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 variants in Malaysia in conjunction with the presence of a dominant SARS-CoV-2 lineage during the third wave of COVID-19 infection.