OCCUPATION AND HEALTH ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (23): 3200-3208.

• Treatise • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Development of a whole-genome sequencing method of human coronavirus OC43 in clinical samples based on amplicon sequencing technology

Yuqing ZHOU, Yujia HUO, Lu ZHANG, Xuechun ZHANG, Xiao WANG, Bing ZHAO()   

  1. Shanghai Pudong New Area Center for Disease Control and Prevention(Shanghai Pudong New Area Health Supervision Institute),Shanghai 200136,China
  • Received:2025-03-06 Revised:2025-03-20 Online:2025-12-01 Published:2025-12-10
  • Contact: Bing ZHAO
  • About author:ZHAO Bing,Deputy chief technician,E⁃mail:zerg8424@hotmail.com

Abstract:

Objective To develop an efficient sequencing method for directly obtaining the whole-genome sequence of human coronavirus OC43(HCoV-OC43) from clinical samples,providing a critical technical means for genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of HCoV-OC43. Methods Specific primers were designed for different subtypes of HCoV-OC43 by using amplicon-based sequencing technology,patch primers were further optimized to compensate for missing regions,enabling the amplification of two overlapping segments to reconstruct the full genome sequence,and quality control was performed on both primers and sequencing data. Additionally,the effects of different amplification reaction systems and viral loads on amplification efficiency and sequencing quality were compared. Results The established method efficiently retrieved whole-genome sequences of HCoV-OC43,achieving genome coverage ≥98% and an average sequencing depth of ≥1 500×,with high specificity and sensitivity. Among 41 HCoV-OC43-positive clinical samples,31 genome sequences were successfully obtained,including 22 whole-genome sequences,8 N gene sequences,and 1 S gene sequence. Phylogenetic analysis revealed discrepancies between classifications based on different sequence fragments. Conclusion The proposed sequencing method is suitable for obtaining whole-genome sequences from HCoV-OC43-positive clinical samples with Ct values <32,which provides technical support and scientific data for molecular surveillance and the prevention and control of respiratory viruses.

Key words: Human coronavirus OC43, Whole-genome sequencing, Genotype

CLC Number: