{"doi":"10.1101/2020.02.29.971101","title":"Mutations, Recombination and Insertion in the Evolution of 2019-nCoV","abstract":"Background: The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2) has spread more rapidly than any other betacoronavirus including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. However, the mechanisms responsible for infection and molecular evolution of this virus remained unclear. Methods: We collected and analyzed 120 genomic sequences of 2019-nCoV including 11 novel genomes from patients in China. Through comprehensive analysis of the available genome sequences of 2019-nCoV strains, we have tracked multiple inheritable SNPs and determined the evolution of 2019-nCoV relative to other coronaviruses. Results: Systematic analysis of 120 genomic sequences of 2019-nCoV revealed co-circulation of two genetic subgroups with distinct SNPs markers, which can be used to trace the 2019-nCoV spreading pathways to different regions and countries. Although 2019-nCoV, human and bat SARS-CoV share high homologous in overall genome structures, they evolved into two distinct groups with different receptor entry specificities through potential recombination in the receptor binding regions. In addition, 2019-nCoV has a unique four amino acid insertion between S1 and S2 domains of the spike protein, which created a potential furin or TMPRSS2 cleavage site. Conclusions: Our studies provided comprehensive insights into the evolution and spread of the 2019-nCoV. Our results provided evidence suggesting that 2019-nCoV may increase its infectivity through the receptor binding domain recombination and a cleavage site insertion. One Sentence Summary: Novel 2019-nCoV sequences revealed the evolution and specificity of betacoronavirus with possible mechanisms of enhanced infectivity.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2020,"id":118672,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":48,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.5677,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":6085,"name":"Peihua Niu","orcid":"0000-0001-5930-4234","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":357684,"name":"Lulan Wang","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":551766,"name":"Hangyu Zhou","orcid":"0000-0002-3762-2319","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":6081,"name":"Xiang Zhao","orcid":"0000-0002-1168-3439","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":6077,"name":"Wenling Wang","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":551767,"name":"Jingfeng Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-5170-3887","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":551768,"name":"Chengyang Ji","orcid":"0000-0001-9258-5453","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":104306,"name":"Xiao Ding","orcid":"0000-0002-5512-2131","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":104307,"name":"Xianyue Wang","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":6084,"name":"Roujian Lu","orcid":"0000-0002-3362-662X","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":269741,"name":"Sarah Gold","orcid":"0000-0003-0501-9707","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":357685,"name":"Saba R. 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