Abstract
Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the continuous genomic evolution of its etiological agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has generated many new variants with enhanced transmissibility and immune escape capabilities. Being an essential mediator of infections and a key target of antibodies, mutations of its spike glycoprotein play a vital role in modulating its evolutionary trajectory. Here, we present a time-resolved statistical method, Dynamic Expedition of Leading Mutations (deLemus), to analyze the evolutionary dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 spike. Together with analysis of its single amino acid polymorphism (SAP), we propose the use of L-index in quantifying the mutation strength of each amino acid site, such that the evolutionary mutation pattern of the spike glycoprotein can be unravelled.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Authors revised, Figure 1 replaced, Section NTD to S2 revised, Supplementary file updated
