Contributions of adaptation and purifying selection to SARS-CoV-2 evolution

Continued evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 has lead to more transmissible and immune evasive variants with profound impact on the course of the pandemic. Here I analyze the evolution of the virus over 2.5 years since its emergence and estimate rates of evolution for synonymous and non-synonymous changes separately for evolution within clades - well defined mono-phyletic groups with gradual evolution - and for the pandemic overall. The rate of synonymous mutations is found to be around 6 changes per year. Synonymous rates within variants vary little from variant to variant and are compatible with the overall rate of 7 changes per year (or 7.5 x 10-4 per year and codon). In contrast, the rate at which variants accumulate amino acid changes (non synonymous mutation) was initially around 12-16 changes per year, but in 2021 and 2022 dropped to 6-9 changes per year. The overall rate of non-synonymous evolution, that is across variants, is estimated to be about 26 amino acid changes per year (or 2.7 x 10-3 per year and codon). This strong acceleration of the overall rate compared to within clade evolution indicates that the evolutionary process that gave rise to the different variants is qualitatively different from that in typical transmission chains and likely dominated by adaptive evolution. I further quantify the spectrum of mutations and purifying selection in different SARS-CoV-2 proteins and show that the massive global sampling of SARS-CoV-2 is sufficient to estimate site specific fitness costs across the entire genome. Many accessory proteins evolve under limited evolutionary constraint with little short term purifying selection. About half of the mutations in other proteins are strongly deleterious.

Automated summary

Continued evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 has led to the emergence of more transmissible and immune evasive variants, with profound impact on the course of the pandemic. The evolution of the virus over 2.5 years since its emergence was analyzed, and the rates of synonymous and non-synonymous changes were estimated separately for evolution within clades and for the pandemic overall. The study found that the rate of synonymous mutations is around 6 changes per year, while the rate of non-synonymous mutations is estimated to be about 26 amino acid changes per year. This suggests that the evolutionary process of the different variants is qualitatively different from that in typical transmission chains and is likely dominated by adaptive evolution.