The new Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Central America: Demographic-spatial simulations, Analyses of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) and Neutrality Tests in complete genomes from Belize, Guatemala, Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico

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Abstract

In this work, we evaluated the levels of genetic diversity in 38 complete genomes of SARS-CoV-2 from five Central American countries (Belize, Guatemala, Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico) with 04, 10, 2, 8 and 14 haplotypes, respectively, with an extension of up to 29,885 bp. All sequences were publicly available on the National Biotechnology Information Center (NCBI) platform. Using specific methodologies for paired F ST , AMOVA, mismatch, demographic-spatial expansion, molecular diversity and for the time of evolutionary divergence, it was possible to notice that only 79 sites remained conserved and that the high number of polymorphisms found helped to establish a clear pattern of genetic non-structuring, based on the time of divergence between the groups. The analyses also showed that significant evolutionary divergences within and between the five countries corroborate the fact that possible rapid and silent mutations are responsible for the increase in genetic variability of the Virus, a fact that would hinder the work with molecular targets for vaccines and medications in general.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.12.26.20248872: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    The Newick tree, served as input for Figtree software.
    Figtree
    suggested: (FigTree, RRID:SCR_008515)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.