Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

March 8, 2021

The Emergence and Ongoing Convergent Evolution of the N501Y Lineages Coincides with a Major Global Shift in the SARS-CoV-2 Selective Landscap

Category:

Topic:

Keywords (Tags):

  • [Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A study examining patterns of SARS-CoV-2 mutations via phylogenetics-based analyses found evidence for changes in the selective pressures of specific SARS-CoV-2 genes (such as N and S) that likely coincided with the emergence of the three main 501Y lineages (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1). The analysis included all SARS-CoV-2 sequences in GISAID assigned to these three lineages by Feb 2, 2021. The authors found a significant shift in selective pressures occurred around November 2020. In addition, a significant portion of the ongoing adaptive evolution of these lineages seemed to involve further convergence between them, suggesting that viruses in these distinct lineages may be converging on a similar adaptive endpoint.

Martin et al. (Mar 5, 2021). The Emergence and Ongoing Convergent Evolution of the N501Y Lineages Coincides with a Major Global Shift in the SARS-CoV-2 Selective Landscape. Pre-print downloaded Mar 8 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.23.21252268