High-density amplicon sequencing identifies community spread and ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in the Southern United States

McNamara, Ryan P.; Caro-Vegas, Carolina; Landis, Justin T.; Moorad, Razia; Pluta, Linda J.; Eason, Anthony B.; Thompson, Cecilia; Bailey, Aubrey; Villamor, Femi Cleola S.; Lange, Philip T.; Wong, Jason P.; Seltzer, Tischan; Seltzer, Jedediah; Zhou, Yijun; Vahrson, Wolfgang; Juarez, Angelica; Meyo, James O.; Calabre, Tiphaine; Broussard, Grant; Rivera-Soto, Ricardo; Chappell, Danielle L.; Baric, Ralph S.; Damania, Blossom; Miller, Melissa B.; Dittmer, Dirk P.

SARS-CoV-2 is constantly evolving. Prior studies have focused on high case-density locations, such as the Northern and Western metropolitan areas in the U.S. This study demonstrates continued SARS-CoV-2 evolution in a suburban Southern U.S. region by high-density amplicon sequencing of symptomatic cases. 57% of strains carried the spike D614G variant. The presence of D614G was associated with a higher genome copy number and its prevalence expanded with time. Four strains carried a deletion in a predicted stem loop of the 3’ untranslated region. The data are consistent with community spread within the local population and the larger continental U.S. No strain had mutations in the target sites used in common diagnostic assays. The data instill confidence in the sensitivity of current tests and validate “testing by sequencing” as a new option to uncover cases, particularly those not conforming to the standard clinical presentation of COVID-19. This study contributes to the understanding of COVID-19 by providing an extensive set of genomes from a non-urban setting and further informs vaccine design by defining D614G as a dominant and emergent SARS-CoV-2 isolate in the U.S.