Rapid assessment of SARS-CoV-2-evolved variants using virus-like particles.
Science
; 374(6575): 1626-1632, 2021 Dec 24.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34735219
ABSTRACT
Efforts to determine why new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants demonstrate improved fitness have been limited to analyzing mutations in the spike (S) protein with the use of S-pseudotyped particles. In this study, we show that SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles (SC2-VLPs) can package and deliver exogenous transcripts, enabling analysis of mutations within all structural proteins and at multiple steps in the viral life cycle. In SC2-VLPs, four nucleocapsid (N) mutations found universally in more-transmissible variants independently increased messenger RNA delivery and expression ~10-fold, and in a reverse genetics model, the serine-202âarginine (S202R) and arginine-203âmethionine (R203M) mutations each produced >50 times as much virus. SC2-VLPs provide a platform for rapid testing of viral variants outside of a biosafety level 3 setting and demonstrate N mutations and particle assembly to be mechanisms that could explain the increased spread of variants, including B.1.617.2 (Delta, which contains the R203M mutation).
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
Artificial Virus-Like Particles
/
Mutation
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Science
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States