Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern 202012/01 (VOC-202012/01) is rapidly spreading worldwide owing to its substantial transmission advantage. The variant has changes in critical sites of the spike protein with potential biological significance. Moreover, VOC-202012/01 has a mutation that inactivates the ORF8 protein, whose absence can change the clinical features of the infection. Why VOC-202012/01 is more transmissible remains unclear, but spike mutations and ORF8 inactivation stand out by their known phenotypic effects. Here I show that variants combining relevant spike mutations and the absence of ORF8 occurred in SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses circulating in other host species. A truncated ORF8 (Q23stop) occurred in a SARS-CoV-2-related virus from a pangolin seized in China in 2017, also with several mutations in critical spike sites. Strikingly, I found that variants without ORF8 (E19stop) and with the N501T spike mutation circulated in farmed mink and humans from Denmark. Although with differences to VOC-202012/01, the identification of these variants highlights the danger of having reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses where more transmissible variants may occur and spill over to humans.
Keywords: COVID-19; Coronaviruses; Nonsense mutations; Transmissibility.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Coronaviruses, Transmissibility, Nonsense mutations, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, Mutation, Human, variant, SARS-CoV-2 variant, Infection, Transmission, virus, variants, Clinical features, Spike protein, China, Transmissibility, ORF8, spike mutation, inactivation, humans, VOC-202012/01, spike mutations, concern, Denmark, Critical, clinical feature, pangolin, ORF8 protein, Nonsense mutations, related viruses, circulating, phenotypic, biological significance, reservoirs, reservoir, Host, Effects, highlight, occurred, changes in, absence, occur, the spike protein, related virus, Nonsense, transmissible variant, 【제목키워드】 occurred,