Abstract
Wastewater-based genomic surveillance can identify a huge majority of variants shed by the infected individuals within a population, which goes beyond genomic surveillance based on clinical samples (i.e., symptomatic patients only). We analyzed four samples to detect key mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome and track circulating variants in Ahmedabad during the first wave (Sep/Nov 2020) and before the second wave (in Feb 2021) of COVID-19 in India. The analysis identified a total of 34 mutations in the spike protein across samples categorized into 23 types. The spike protein mutations were linked to the VOC-21APR-02; B.1.617.2 lineage (Delta variant) with 57% frequency in wastewater samples of Feb 2021. The key spike protein mutations were T19R, L452R, T478K, D614G, & P681R and deletions at 22029 (6 bp), 28248 (6 bp), & 28271 (1 bp). Interestingly, these mutations were not seen in the samples from Sep/Nov 2020 but did appear before the massive second wave of COVID-19 cases, which in India started in early April 2021. In fact, genetic traces of the Delta variant were found in samples of early Feb 2021, more than a month before the first clinically confirmed case of this in March 2021 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The present work describes the circulating of SARS-CoV-2 variants in Ahmedabad and confirms the consequential value of wastewater surveillance for the early detection of variants of concerns (VOCs). Such monitoring must be included as a major component of future health protection systems.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Mutation, India, detection, wastewater surveillance, 【초록키워드】 Genetic, variant, SARS-CoV-2 variant, variants of concern, B.1.617.2, delta variant, Spike protein, Health, Surveillance, L452R, VOCs, Lineage, Deletion, D614G, second wave, P681R, genomic, First wave, Frequency, Analysis, COVID-19 cases, T478K, infected individual, Gujarat, circulating, T19R, clinical sample, analyzed, identify, detect, clinically, majority, the spike protein, circulating variant, symptomatic patient, the SARS-CoV-2 genome, 【제목키워드】 Sequencing, variant, COVID-19 case, the SARS-CoV-2,