Variation of 2019 novel coronavirus complete genomes recorded in the 1st month of outbreak: Implication for mutation.

Dear Editor,

Wuhan coronavirus infection is the new emerging coronavirus infection caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019 n-CoV).[1] The 2019 n-CoV was firstly isolated, sequenced, and recorded from China. After the first discovery of 2019 n-CoV infection, more cases are observed in China as well as in other countries.[2] The disease was detected and molecularly confirmed in several countries (such as the USA and Australia). The accelerating increased number of infected cases[3] leads to the WHO declaration on global emergence regarding this new disease.

Here, the authors performed comparative genomics analysis on public available complete genomes of 2019 n-CoV recorded in the 1st month of outbreak (December 2019–January 2020). Overall, ten available complete genomes in PubMed were processed by BLAST tool for multiple alignments (https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BlastAlign.cgi). The studied genomes include MN988668.1 (the first referencing genome), MN997409.1, MN988669.1, MN994468.1, MN994467.1, MN985325.1, MN988713.1, MN975262.1, MN938384.1, and MT007544.1. According to the analysis, the similarity ranges from 99.96% to 100% (average = 99.983% +0.012%). The variation, which implies mutation, is 0%–0.04% within the 1st month period of outbreak. Therefore, the mutation of the new 2019 n-CoV already occurs. Further monitoring on progress of mutation is recommended for early detection of possible emerging serious variant of the virus.

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Conflicts of interest

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