Warning: This is a preliminary report that has not been peer-reviewed. It should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or be reported in news media as established information.

Zhang J, Weichun T, Gao H, Lavine C, Shi W, Peng H, Zhu H, Anand K, Kosikova M, Kwon HJ, Tong P, Gautam A, Rits-Volloch S, Wang S, Mayer ML, Wesemann D, Seaman MS, Lu J, Xiao T, Xie H, Chen B

The Omicron subvariant BA.2 has become the dominant circulating strain of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in many countries. We have characterized structural, functional and antigenic properties of the full-length BA.2 spike (S) protein and compared replication of the authentic virus in cell culture and animal model with ...

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previously prevalent variants. BA.2 S can fuse membranes more efficiently than Omicron BA.1, mainly due to lack of a BA.1-specific mutation that may retard the receptor engagement, but still less efficiently than other variants. Both BA.1 and BA.2 viruses replicated substantially faster in animal lungs than the early G614 (B.1) strain in the absence of pre-existing immunity, possibly explaining the increased transmissibility despite their functionally compromised spikes. As in BA.1, mutations in the BA.2 S remodel its antigenic surfaces leading to strong resistance to neutralizing antibodies. These results suggest that both immune evasion and replicative advantage may contribute to the heightened transmissibility for the Omicron subvariants.

Date: Apr. 28, 2022

Status: Preliminary Report

View Source: doi: 10.1101/2022.04.28.489772

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