New Paper (Other): Genetic Variants of SARS-CoV-2—What Do They Mean?

[marouenbg]

Title: Genetic Variants of SARS-CoV-2—What Do They Mean?

General Information

Please paste a link to the paper or a citation here:

Link: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2775006

What is the paper's Manubot-style citation?

Citation: @doi:10.1001/jama.2020.27124

Is this paper primarily relevant to Background or Pathogenesis?

• [ ] Background
• [x] Pathogenesis
• [ ] Methods

Please list some keywords (3-10) that help identify the relevance of this paper to COVID-19

• keyword 1 (replace me, copy and paste more than three if needed)
• keyword 2 (replace me, copy and paste more than three if needed)
• keyword 3 (replace me, copy and paste more than three if needed)

Please note the publication / review status

• [ ] Pre-print
• [x] New Peer-Reviewed Paper
• [ ] Peer-Reviewed Paper Pre-2020

Which areas of expertise are particularly relevant to the paper?

• [x] virology
• [ ] epidemiology
• [ ] biostatistics
• [ ] immunology
• [ ] pharmacology
• [ ] other:

[marouenbg]

Summary

Suggested questions to answer about each paper:

• What did they analyze? In this opinion/perspective piece, the authors summarized the mutation in the sequence of SARS-CoV-2 that could promote the escape variants.

• What methods did they use? A review of the literature.

• Does this paper study COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, or a related disease and/or virus? This paper tells us about escape mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2, the underlying mutations, and the evolutionary advantage they could provide SARS-CoV-2.

• What is the main finding (or a few main takeaways)? This paper discussed three main mutations. Spike D614G could have occurred by chance and could give SARS-CoV-2 an advantage by enabling faster spreading. Spike N453Y was detected in Mink and the variants carrying it had a higher affinity to Mink ACE2 and could be transmitted in humans. N501Y has a higher affinity to human ACE2 and probably occurred through adaptive benefit. It occurs in the fast spreading variant B.1.1.7

• What does this paper tell us about the background and/or diagnostics/therapeutics for COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2? SARS-CoV-2 is a rather low evolving virus, however, under selection pressure, it can evolve through acquiring mutations either by chance or by adaptive selection.

• Do you have any concerns about methodology or the interpretation of these results beyond this analysis? None.

Any comments or notes?

The summarized findings in this perspective could indicate the lack of efficacy of antibody cocktails and the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, if escape mechanisms are promoted.