Genomic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of SARS-COV-2 in Italy

Gianguglielmo Zehender; Alessia Lai; Annalisa Bergna; Luca Meroni; Agostino Riva; Claudia Balotta; Maciej Tarkowski; Arianna Gabrieli; Dario Bernacchia; Stefano Rusconi; Giuliano Rizzardini; Spinello Antinori; Massimo Galli

doi:10.1002/jmv.25794

Genomic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of SARS-COV-2 in Italy

J Med Virol. 2020 Sep;92(9):1637-1640. doi: 10.1002/jmv.25794. Epub 2020 Apr 10.

Authors

Gianguglielmo Zehender^{1

2

3}, Alessia Lai^{1

2}, Annalisa Bergna¹, Luca Meroni⁴, Agostino Riva⁴, Claudia Balotta¹, Maciej Tarkowski¹, Arianna Gabrieli¹, Dario Bernacchia⁴, Stefano Rusconi^{1

4}, Giuliano Rizzardini⁵, Spinello Antinori^{1

4}, Massimo Galli^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Luigi Sacco, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
² EpiSoMi CRC-Coordinated Research Center, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
³ Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi Pediatric Research Center, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
⁴ III Division of Infectious Diseases, ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco, Luigi Sacco Hospital, Milan, Italy.
⁵ Department of Infectious Diseases, Luigi Sacco Hospital, Milan, Italy.

Abstract

This report describes the isolation, molecular characterization, and phylogenetic analysis of the first three complete genomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) isolated from three patients involved in the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Lombardy, Italy. Early molecular epidemiological tracing suggests that SARS-CoV-2 was present in Italy weeks before the first reported cases of infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; complete genomes of SARS-CoV-2; phylogenetic analysis.

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / epidemiology*
COVID-19 / virology*
Computational Biology / methods
Genome, Viral*
Genomics* / methods
Humans
Italy / epidemiology
Phylogeny*
Regression Analysis
SARS-CoV-2 / classification*
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics*