The Omicron Sub-Variant BA.4 Displays a Remarkable Lack of Clinical Signs in a Golden Syrian Hamster Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.
Viruses
; 15(5)2023 05 10.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37243219
ABSTRACT
The ongoing emergence of SARS-CoV-2 virus variants remains a source of concern because it is accompanied by the potential for increased virulence as well as evasion of immunity. Here we show that, although having an almost identical spike gene sequence as another Omicron variant (BA.5.2.1), a BA.4 isolate lacked all the typical disease characteristics of other isolates seen in the Golden Syrian hamster model despite replicating almost as effectively. Animals infected with BA.4 had similar viral shedding profiles to those seen with BA.5.2.1 (up to day 6 post-infection), but they all failed to lose weight or present with any other significant clinical signs. We hypothesize that this lack of detectable signs of disease during infection with BA.4 was due to a small (nine nucleotide) deletion (∆686-694) in the viral genome (ORF1ab) responsible for the production of non-structural protein 1, which resulted in the loss of three amino acids (aa 141-143).
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
COVID-19
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article