Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh

Mutation is one of the most important drivers of viral evolution and genome variability, allowing viruses to potentially evade host immune responses and develop drug resistance. In the context of COVID-19, local genomic surveillance of circulating virus populations is therefore critical. The goals o...

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Main Authors: Abu Sayeed Mohammad Mahmud, Patiyan Andersson, Dieter Bulach, Sebastian Duchene, Anders Goncalves da Silva, Chantel Lin, Torsten Seemann, Benjamin P. Howden, Timothy P. Stinear, Tarannum Taznin, Md. Ahashan Habib, Shahina Akter, Tanjina Akhtar Banu, Md. Murshed Hasan Sarkar, Barna Goswami, Iffat Jahan, Md. Salim Khan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Viruses
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17/4/517
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author Abu Sayeed Mohammad Mahmud
Patiyan Andersson
Dieter Bulach
Sebastian Duchene
Anders Goncalves da Silva
Chantel Lin
Torsten Seemann
Benjamin P. Howden
Timothy P. Stinear
Tarannum Taznin
Md. Ahashan Habib
Shahina Akter
Tanjina Akhtar Banu
Md. Murshed Hasan Sarkar
Barna Goswami
Iffat Jahan
Md. Salim Khan
author_facet Abu Sayeed Mohammad Mahmud
Patiyan Andersson
Dieter Bulach
Sebastian Duchene
Anders Goncalves da Silva
Chantel Lin
Torsten Seemann
Benjamin P. Howden
Timothy P. Stinear
Tarannum Taznin
Md. Ahashan Habib
Shahina Akter
Tanjina Akhtar Banu
Md. Murshed Hasan Sarkar
Barna Goswami
Iffat Jahan
Md. Salim Khan
author_sort Abu Sayeed Mohammad Mahmud
collection DOAJ
description Mutation is one of the most important drivers of viral evolution and genome variability, allowing viruses to potentially evade host immune responses and develop drug resistance. In the context of COVID-19, local genomic surveillance of circulating virus populations is therefore critical. The goals of this study were to describe the distribution of different SARS-CoV-2 lineages, assess their genomic differences, and infer virus importation events in Bangladesh. We individually aligned 1965 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences obtained between April 2020 and June 2021 to the Wuhan-1 sequence and used the resulting multiple sequence alignment as input to infer a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree. Sequences were assigned to lineages as described by the hierarchical Pangolin nomenclature scheme. We built a phylogeographic model using the virus population genome sequence variation to infer the number of virus importation events. We observed thirty-four lineages and sub-lineages in Bangladesh, with B.1.1.25 and its sub-lineages D.* (979 sequences) dominating, as well as the Beta variant of concern (VOC) B.1.351 and its sub-lineages B.1.351.* (403 sequences). The earliest B.1.1.25/D.* lineages likely resulted from multiple introductions, some of which led to larger outbreak clusters. There were 570 missense mutations, 426 synonymous mutations, 18 frameshift mutations, 7 deletions, 2 insertions, 10 changes at start/stop codons, and 64 mutations in intergenic or untranslated regions. According to phylogeographic modeling, there were 31 importation events into Bangladesh (95% CI: 27–36). Like elsewhere, Bangladesh has experienced distinct waves of dominant lineages during the COVID-19 pandemic; this study focuses on the emergence and displacement of the first wave-dominated lineage, which contains mutations seen in several VOCs and may have had a transmission advantage over the extant lineages.
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spelling doaj-art-492b2149b7fb4151b6f7c95e2452dcc22025-08-20T02:18:16ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152025-04-0117451710.3390/v17040517Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in BangladeshAbu Sayeed Mohammad Mahmud0Patiyan Andersson1Dieter Bulach2Sebastian Duchene3Anders Goncalves da Silva4Chantel Lin5Torsten Seemann6Benjamin P. Howden7Timothy P. Stinear8Tarannum Taznin9Md. Ahashan Habib10Shahina Akter11Tanjina Akhtar Banu12Md. Murshed Hasan Sarkar13Barna Goswami14Iffat Jahan15Md. Salim Khan16Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Qudrat-E-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, BangladeshMicrobiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaMicrobiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaMicrobiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaMicrobiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaMicrobiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaMicrobiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Science and Technology, Jashore University of Science and Technology, Jashore 7408, BangladeshBangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Qudrat-E-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, BangladeshBangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Qudrat-E-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, BangladeshBangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Qudrat-E-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, BangladeshBangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Qudrat-E-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, BangladeshBangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Qudrat-E-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, BangladeshBangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Qudrat-E-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, BangladeshBangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Qudrat-E-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, BangladeshMutation is one of the most important drivers of viral evolution and genome variability, allowing viruses to potentially evade host immune responses and develop drug resistance. In the context of COVID-19, local genomic surveillance of circulating virus populations is therefore critical. The goals of this study were to describe the distribution of different SARS-CoV-2 lineages, assess their genomic differences, and infer virus importation events in Bangladesh. We individually aligned 1965 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences obtained between April 2020 and June 2021 to the Wuhan-1 sequence and used the resulting multiple sequence alignment as input to infer a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree. Sequences were assigned to lineages as described by the hierarchical Pangolin nomenclature scheme. We built a phylogeographic model using the virus population genome sequence variation to infer the number of virus importation events. We observed thirty-four lineages and sub-lineages in Bangladesh, with B.1.1.25 and its sub-lineages D.* (979 sequences) dominating, as well as the Beta variant of concern (VOC) B.1.351 and its sub-lineages B.1.351.* (403 sequences). The earliest B.1.1.25/D.* lineages likely resulted from multiple introductions, some of which led to larger outbreak clusters. There were 570 missense mutations, 426 synonymous mutations, 18 frameshift mutations, 7 deletions, 2 insertions, 10 changes at start/stop codons, and 64 mutations in intergenic or untranslated regions. According to phylogeographic modeling, there were 31 importation events into Bangladesh (95% CI: 27–36). Like elsewhere, Bangladesh has experienced distinct waves of dominant lineages during the COVID-19 pandemic; this study focuses on the emergence and displacement of the first wave-dominated lineage, which contains mutations seen in several VOCs and may have had a transmission advantage over the extant lineages.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17/4/517SARS-CoV-2mutationphylogenyBangladeshspike proteinepidemiology
spellingShingle Abu Sayeed Mohammad Mahmud
Patiyan Andersson
Dieter Bulach
Sebastian Duchene
Anders Goncalves da Silva
Chantel Lin
Torsten Seemann
Benjamin P. Howden
Timothy P. Stinear
Tarannum Taznin
Md. Ahashan Habib
Shahina Akter
Tanjina Akhtar Banu
Md. Murshed Hasan Sarkar
Barna Goswami
Iffat Jahan
Md. Salim Khan
Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh
Viruses
SARS-CoV-2
mutation
phylogeny
Bangladesh
spike protein
epidemiology
title Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh
title_full Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh
title_fullStr Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh
title_short Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh
title_sort molecular epidemiology of sars cov 2 in bangladesh
topic SARS-CoV-2
mutation
phylogeny
Bangladesh
spike protein
epidemiology
url https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17/4/517
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