Factors Associated with Emerging and Re-emerging of SARS-CoV-2 Variants

 Austin N Spratt, Saathvik K Kannan,  

View ORCID ProfileLucas T Woods,  View ORCID ProfileGary A Weisman, Thomas D Quinn,  View ORCID ProfileChristian L Lorson,  View ORCID ProfileAnders Sonnerborg, Siddappa N Byrareddy,  View ORCID ProfileKamal Singh

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.24.436850

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].

PDF: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.24.436850v1.full.pdf

Abstract

Global spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has triggered unprecedented scientific efforts, as well as containment and treatment measures. Despite these efforts, SARS-CoV-2 infections remain unmanageable in some parts of the world. Due to inherent mutability of RNA viruses, it is not surprising that the SARS-CoV-2 genome has been continuously evolving since its emergence. Recently, four functionally distinct variants, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1 and CAL.20C, have been identified, and they appear to more infectious and transmissible than the original (Wuhan-Hu-1) virus. Here we provide evidence based upon a combination of bioinformatics and structural approaches that can explain the higher infectivity of the new variants. Our results show that the greater infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 than SARS-CoV can be attributed to a combination of several factors, including alternate receptors. Additionally, we show that new SARS-CoV-2 variants emerged in the background of D614G in Spike protein and P323L in RNA polymerase. The correlation analyses showed that all mutations in specific variants did not evolve simultaneously. Instead, some mutations evolved most likely to compensate for the viral fitness.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.24.436850v1