Patient-derived mutations impact pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2

Hangping Yao; Xiangyun Lu; Qiong Chen; Kaijin Xu; Yu Chen; Linfang Cheng; Fumin Liu; Zhigang Wu; Haibo Wu; Changzhong Jin; Min Zheng; Nanping Wu; Chao Jiang; Lanjuan Li

The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.14.20060160 doi: medRxiv preprint 6 the observed mutations in our study, and possibly in the viral isolates collected around 86 the world, can significantly impact the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2. Table 1) . 10 of the 11 patients had clear connections with Wuhan city, where the 93 SARS-CoV-2 was originally identified. 5 of the 11 people either worked in or traveled to 94 Wuhan before they were diagnosed, and another 5 had close contact with people who 95 lived in Wuhan, and the remaining person had contact with people who were COVID-19 96 victims. Notably, patients ZJU-4, -5, -9 attended the same business conference where a 97 few colleagues from Wuhan were present. These patients therefore constitute 1st and 2nd 98 generations of the viral victims based on their epidemiological history. The 11 patients 99 include 8 males and 3 females, with ages ranging from 4 months to 71 years old. There 100 are no clear criteria in selecting these patients other than the fact that they were all 101 admitted into Zhejiang University-affiliated hospitals in Hangzhou. All except one of the 102 All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. To assess the mutational spectrum of these 11 viral isolates, ultra-deep sequencing of the 112 isolated viral genomic RNA was performed on the Illumina Novaseq 6000 platform, 113 All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.