Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

June 22, 2020

High-Density Amplicon Sequencing Identifies Community Spread and Ongoing Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in the Southern United States

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  • [pre-print, not peer reviewed] McNamara et al. demonstrated SARS-CoV-2 evolution in a suburban Southern US region using high-density amplicon sequencing of 175 symptomatic cases. The presence of spike D614G variant, a mutation implicated in higher pathogenicity of the virus, was observed among 57% of strains and was associated with a higher genome copy number (p<0.002).  
  • The single nucleotide variant pattern is consistent with the idea that SARS-CoV-2 was introduced into North Carolina by travelers from the continental US. No strain had mutations in the target sites used in common diagnostic assays. 

McNamara et al. (June 19, 2020). High-Density Amplicon Sequencing Identifies Community Spread and Ongoing Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in the Southern United States. Preprint downloaded June 22 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.19.161141