Nature
Nature
3 years ago

Emergence and expansion of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.526 after identification in New York

Medini K. Annavajhala, Hiroshi Mohri, Pengfei Wang, Manoj Nair, Jason E. Zucker, Zizhang Sheng, Angela Gomez-Simmonds, Anne L. Kelley, Maya Tagliavia, Yaoxing Huang, Trevor Bedford, David D. Ho, Anne-Catrin Uhlemann
Recent months have seen surges of SARS-CoV-2 infection across the globe with considerable viral evolution1–3. Extensive mutations in the spike protein may threaten the efficacy of vaccines and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies4. Two signature mutations of concern are E484K, which plays a crucial role in the loss of neutralizing activity of antibodies, and N501Y, a driver of rapid worldwide transmission of the B.1.1.7 lineage. Here we report the emergence of variant lineage B.1.526 that contains E484K and its alarming rise to dominance in New York City in early 2021. This variant is partially or completely resistant to two therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in clinical use and less susceptible to neutralization by convalescent plasma or vaccinee sera, posing a modest antigenic challenge. The B.1.526 lineage has now been reported from all 50 states in the United States and numerous other countries. B.1.526 rapidly replaced earlier lineages in New York upon its emergence, with an estimated transmission advantage of 35%. Such transmission dynamics, together with the relative antibody resistance of its E484K sub-lineage, probably contributed to the sharp rise and rapid spread of B.1.526. Although SARS-CoV-2 B.1.526 initially outpaced B.1.1.7 in the region, its growth subsequently slowed concurrent with the rise of B.1.1.7 and ensuing variants.

Publisher URL: http://feeds.nature.com/~r/nature/rss/current/~3/Q6xyGEJLtwg/s41586-021-03908-2

Open URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03908-2_reference.pdf

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03908-2

Open access
You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.