Changes within the P681 residue of spike dictate cell fusion and syncytia formation of Delta and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 with no effects on neutralization or infectivity.

ABSTRACT: The rapid spread and dominance of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 lineages have posed severe health challenges worldwide. While extensive research on the role of the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) in promoting viral infectivity and vaccine sensitivity has been well documented, the functional significance of the ₆₈₁PRRAR/SV₆₈₇ polybasic motif of the viral spike is less clear. In this work, we monitored the infectivity levels and neutralization potential of the wild-type human coronavirus 2019 (hCoV-19), Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses against sera samples drawn four months post administration of a third dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. Our findings show that in comparison to hCoV-19 and Delta SARS-CoV-2, Omicron lineages BA.1 and BA.2 exhibit enhanced infectivity a

SUBMITTER: Kuzmina A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10238279 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature