Superspreading in the emergence of COVID-19 variants

Alberto Gómez-Carballa; Jacobo Pardo-Seco; Xabier Bello; Federico Martinón-Torres; Antonio Salas

doi:10.1016/j.tig.2021.09.003

Superspreading in the emergence of COVID-19 variants

Trends Genet. 2021 Dec;37(12):1069-1080. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.09.003. Epub 2021 Sep 8.

Authors

Alberto Gómez-Carballa¹, Jacobo Pardo-Seco¹, Xabier Bello¹, Federico Martinón-Torres², Antonio Salas³

Affiliations

¹ Genetics, Vaccines, and Infections Research Group (GENVIP), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Unidade de Xenética, Instituto de Ciencias Forenses (INCIFOR), Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and GenPoB Research Group, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS), Galicia, Spain.
² Unidade de Xenética, Instituto de Ciencias Forenses (INCIFOR), Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and GenPoB Research Group, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS), Galicia, Spain; Translational Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
³ Genetics, Vaccines, and Infections Research Group (GENVIP), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Unidade de Xenética, Instituto de Ciencias Forenses (INCIFOR), Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and GenPoB Research Group, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS), Galicia, Spain. Electronic address: antonio.salas@usc.es.

Abstract

Superspreading and variants of concern (VOC) of the human pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are the main catalyzers of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, measuring their individual impact is challenging. By examining the largest database of SARS-CoV-2 genomes The Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data [GISAID; n >1.2 million high-quality (HQ) sequences], we present evidence suggesting that superspreading has had a key role in the epidemiological predominance of VOC. There are clear signatures in the database compatible with large superspreading events (SSEs) coinciding chronologically with the worst epidemiological scenarios triggered by VOC. The data suggest that, without the randomness effect of the genetic drift facilitated by superspreading, new VOC of SARS-CoV-2 would have had more limited chance of success.

Keywords: B.1.1.7; B.1.617.2; SARS-CoV-2; superspreader; superspreader event; variant of concern.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
COVID-19*
Humans
Pandemics*
SARS-CoV-2 / classification*