Complete Genome Sequences of the SARS-CoV: the BJ Group (Isolates BJ01-BJ04)

Bi, Shengli; Qin, E’de; Xu, Zuyuan; Li, Wei; Wang, Jing; Hu, Yongwu; Liu, Yong; Duan, Shumin; Hu, Jianfei; Han, Yujun; Xu, Jing; Li, Yan; Yi, Yao; Zhou, Yongdong; Lin, Wei; Wen, Jie; Xu, Hong; Li, Ruan; Zhang, Zizhang; Sun, Haiyan; Zhu, Jingui; Yu, Man; Fan, Baochang; Wu, Qingfa; Lin, Wei; Tang, Lin; Yang, Bao’an; Li, Guoqing; Peng, Wenming; Li, Wenjie; Jiang, Tao; Deng, Yajun; Liu, Bohua; Shi, Jianping; Deng, Yongqiang; Wei, Wei; Liu, Hong; Tong, Zongzhong; Zhang, Feng; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Cui’e; Li, Yuquan; Ye, Jia; Gan, Yonghua; Ji, Jia; Li, Xiaoyu; Tian, Xiangjun; Lu, Fushuang; Tan, Gang; Yang, Ruifu; Liu, Bin; Liu, Siqi; Li, Songgang; Wang, Jun; Wang, Jian; Cao, Wuchun; Yu, Jun; Dong, Xiaoping; Yang, Huanming

Rooted phylogenetic trees (Figures 4 and 5) , proposed on the basis of the haplotypes from each group, synonymous or non-synonymous substitutions, and the sum of all substitutions of the 17 genome sequences of SARS-CoV isolates from patients identified in Canada, USA, Singapore, and China (Beijing, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), gave different paradigms but positioned the BJ Group, together with the newly discovered GD01 (GD-Ins29 ) in the same clade, followed by the H-U Group, then the H-T Group, leaving the SP Group (Singapore) more distant. This paradigm suggests a possible transmission path from Guangdong to Beijing/Hong Kong, then to other countries and regions. It appears consistent with the epidemiological data presently available, and would suggest a possible transmission path among Guangdong, Hong Kong, Beijing, and USA. Table 2 . It is obvious that we are just in the early process of exploiting the information from the genomes of SARS-CoV isolates from patients of different countries and regions. The final picture of the infection route and the mutation spectra will be revealed in due time as long as we keep sequencing the many clinical isolates of the virus accurately and consistently. We have been doing so since the epidemic started, finding the unique insertion variant in the samples from Guangdong and now the haplotypes, and we will keep doing so until the next round of the infection if it does come in this fall.