Genetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 isolates collected from Bangladesh: Insights into the origin, mutational spectrum and possible pathomechanism

Parvez, Md. Sorwer Alam; Rahman, Mohammad Mahfujur; Morshed, Md. Niaz; Rahman, Dolilur; Anwar, Saeed; Hosen, Mohammad Jakir

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), rages across the world, killing hundreds of thousands and infecting millions, researchers are racing against time to elucidate the viral genome. Some Bangladeshi institutes are also in this race, sequenced a few isolates of the virus collected from Bangladesh. Here, we present a genomic analysis of these isolates. The analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2 isolates sequenced from Dhaka and Chittagong were the lineage of Europe and India, respectively. Our analysis identified a total of 42 mutations, including three large deletions, half of which were synonymous. Most of the missense mutations in Bangladeshi isolates found to have weak effects on the pathogenesis. Some mutations may lead the virus to be less pathogenic than the other countries. Molecular docking analysis to evaluate the effect of the mutations on the interaction between the viral spike proteins and the human ACE2 receptor, though no significant interaction was observed. This study provides some preliminary insights into the origin of Bangladeshi SARS-CoV-2 isolates, mutation spectrum and its possible pathomechanism, which may give an essential clue for designing therapeutics and management of COVID-19 in Bangladesh.