Hybrid capture-based sequencing enables unbiased recovery of SAR-CoV-2 genomes from fecal samples and characterization of the dynamics of intra-host variants

Abstract

Background: In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to understand the origin, transmission, and evolution of SARS-CoV-2, which relies on close surveillance of genomic diversity in clinical samples. Although the mutation at the population level had been extensively investigated, how the mutations evolve at the individual level is largely unknown, partly due to the difficulty of obtaining unbiased genome coverage of SARS-CoV-2 directly from clinical samples. Methods: Eighteen time series fecal samples were collected from nine COVID-19 patients during the convalescent phase. The nucleic acids of SARS-CoV-2 were enriched by the hybrid capture method with different rounds of hybridization. Results: By examining the sequencing depth, genome coverage, and allele frequency change, we demonstrated the impeccable performance of the hybrid capture method in samples with Ct value < 34, as well as significant improvement comparing to direct metatranscriptomic sequencing in samples with lower viral loads. We identified 229 intra-host variants at 182 sites in 18 fecal samples. Among them, nineteen variants presented frequency changes > 0.3 within 1-5 days, reflecting highly dynamic intra-host viral populations. Meanwhile, we also found that the same mutation showed different frequency changes in different individuals, indicating a strong random drift. Moreover, the evolving of the viral genome demonstrated that the virus was still viable in the gastrointestinal tract during the convalescent period. Conclusions: The hybrid capture method enables reliable analyses of inter- and intra-host variants of SARS-CoV-2 genome, which changed dramatically in the gastrointestinal tract; its clinical relevance warrants further investigation.

Rapid Spread of Mutant Alleles in Worldwide SARS-CoV-2 Strains Revealed by Genome-Wide Single Nucleotide Polymorphism and Variation Analysis

“…This indicates that the L type may be more adaptive than S type. S type is at least not positive enough to replace L type in global COVID-19 populations, indicated by our study and other work ( Xu et al. 2020 ).…”