Prevalence of Human Coronaviruses in Children and Phylogenetic Analysis of HCoV-OC43 during 2016-2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, routine surveillance combined with sequence and phylogenetic analysis of coronaviruses is urgently required. In the current study, the four common human coronaviruses (HCoVs), OC43, NL63, HKU1, and 229E, were screened in 361 clinical samples collected from hospitalized children with respiratory symptoms during four winter seasons. RT-PCR-based detection and typing revealed different prevalence rates of HCoVs across the four seasons. Interestingly, none of the four HCoVs were detected in the samples (n = 100) collected during the winter season of the COVID-19 pandemic. HCoV-OC43 (4.15%) was the most frequently detected, followed by 229E (1.1%). Partial sequences of S and N genes of OC43 from the winter seasons of 2015/2016 and 2021/2022 were used for sequence and phylogenetic analysis. Multiple sequence alignment of the two Saudi OC43s strains with international strains revealed the presence of sequence deletions and several mutations, of which some changed their corresponding amino acids. Glycosylation profiles revealed a number of O-and N-glycosylation sites in both genes. Based on phylogenetic analysis, four genotypes were observed with Riyadh strains grouped into the genotype C. Further long-term surveillance with a large number of clinical samples and sequences is necessary to resolve the circulation patterns and evolutionary kinetics of OC43 in Saudi Arabia.