Determining the International Spread of B.1.1.523 SARS-CoV-2 Lineage with a Set of Mutations Highly Associated with Reduced Immune Neutralization

Lukas Zemaitis; Gediminas Alzbutas; Dovydas Gecys; Arnoldas Pautienius; Rasa Ugenskiene; Marius Sukys; Vaiva Lesauskaite

doi:10.3390/microorganisms10071356

Determining the International Spread of B.1.1.523 SARS-CoV-2 Lineage with a Set of Mutations Highly Associated with Reduced Immune Neutralization

Microorganisms. 2022 Jul 5;10(7):1356. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10071356.

Authors

Lukas Zemaitis¹, Gediminas Alzbutas², Dovydas Gecys¹, Arnoldas Pautienius³, Rasa Ugenskiene⁴, Marius Sukys⁴, Vaiva Lesauskaite¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology, Institute of Cardiology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LT-50162 Kaunas, Lithuania.
² Laboratory of Translational Bioinformatics, Institute for Digestive Research, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LT-50162 Kaunas, Lithuania.
³ Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁴ Department of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LT-50161 Kaunas, Lithuania.

Abstract

Here, we report the emergence of the variant lineage B.1.1.523 that contains a set of mutations including 156_158del, E484K and S494P in the spike protein. E484K and S494P are known to significantly reduce SARS-CoV-2 neutralization by convalescent and vaccinated sera and are considered as mutations of concern. Lineage B.1.1.523 presumably originated in the Russian Federation and spread across European countries with the peak of transmission in April-May 2021. The B.1.1.523 lineage has now been reported from 31 countries. In this article, we analyze the possible origin of this mutation subset and its immune response using in silico methods.

Keywords: B.1.1.523; GISAID; SARS-CoV-2; phylogeny; variant of concern (VOC).

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.