Result: These three altered nucleotides included non-synonymous mutations in the
S gene coding region;
sG145A,
sE164D, and
s*223 W (conversion of a stop codon into a tryptophan codon) alterations.
Result: Variants with the
sE164D substitution also increased from 0% to 99.5% for the total population, and variants with the
s*223 W substitution expanded from 8.3% to 99.4% of the circulating viral isolates, while the virologic significance of these two substitutions remained unknown.