Delta sub-lineage AY.12, with the Spike T791I mutation, has received some attention because its 60-80% in Israel, but its not currently increasing globally. Its been mostly hovering between 4-6% since mid-June.
While AY.25 is the most common Delta sub-lineage in CT - it was named purely for tracking purposes. Its defining mutation A27507C is synonymous, meaning that it does not change the virus' proteins. AY.25 is not likely any different than B.1.617.2. Its also <1% globally.
(4/8)
With Delta's dominance, the next major variant may arise from within this clade. Thus, we & others are continuing to track Delta's evolution. Of interest, we've found a few Delta genomes in CT with the E484Q mutation on 3 different lineages. Something to π, but not π±
(5/8)
This week, B.1.621 - that we've been tracking closely in CT for months - was given a greek letter by the WHO - Mu
It has a couple of key mutations - N501Y + E484K. But its prevalence is π...
(6/8)
However, the period of concern for Mu in Connecticut - and many other places in the US - is over. It was able to compete with with Alpha & Gamma, but it was no match for Delta π
(7/8)
This week I'd like to thank the incredible team at @PangoNetwork for creating and maintaining the lineage system necessary for our surveillance programs. Please routinely check π for updates and information about new lineages.
B.1.617.2 is decreasing primarily because these sequences are being classified as other sublineages. Otherwise, the Delta AY sublineage frequencies are remaining very stable and there is currently *no evidence that any are more transmissible* in Connecticut. (3/6)
Alpha is the first variant to hit the news, and concern over its emergence was the primary motivating factor for the construction of our state genomic surveillance system. Because of our rapid increase in sequencing, we've been able to detect other variants much earlier. (3/10)
Besides Delta, the other major story here is B.1.621. It's now firmly the second most frequent variant in CT (~8%), and has so far been able to maintain its ground against the expansion of Delta. Something that Alpha, Gamma, and everything else couldn't do. (3/9)
All of our B.1.621 + B.1.621.1 (important emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant) submissions are being rejected by GISIAD. This has some important implications that data producers + public health agencies should be aware of.
Technical π§΅(1/12)
We usually have a few sequences/week that get rejected for QC reasons (eg indel in a string of As or Ts). It takes a few days for these to be fixed and reposted. Sometimes longer depending on our bandwidth. These are usually a random distribution so not a problem if delayed(2/12)
This past week we had 40+ sequences get rejected, and almost all of them were B.1.621/B.1.621.1. @JosephFauver found that all of these sequences have a 4 nt deletion in ORF3A that results in a premature stop codon about ~50 nt upstream. GISAID sees these and kicks them back(3/12)