BREAKING🔔 The 21st paper from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 is out at Nature Communications @NatureComms . We illuminated the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 XBB variant (aka #Gryphon), generated by the recombination of two #Omicron subvariants. Please RT! 1/ nature.com/articles/s4146…
In late 2022, the Omicron subvariants have highly diversified. An example is BQ.1.1, which have convergently acquired amino acid substitutions at five critical residues in the spike protein: R346T, K444T, L452R, N460K & F486V. We reported it as below⬇️ 2/
Another variant of concern is XBB. First, two young talents, @jampei2 & @SpyrosLytras, showed that XBB emerged by recombination of two co-circulating BA.2 lineages, BJ.1 & BM.1.1.1 (a progeny of BA.2.75), during summer 2022. 3/
BREAKING🔔 The 20th paper from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 is out at Nature Communications @NatureComms. We illuminated the convergent evolution of #Omicron and characteristics of BQ.1.1 (aka #Cerberos). Please RT
In late 2022, the Omicron subvariants have highly diversified. However, some lineages have convergently acquired amino acid substitutions at five critical residues in the spike protein: R346, K444, L452, N460 and F486. 2/
BREAKING🔔 The 19th paper from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 is out at Lancet Infectious Diseases @TheLancetInfDis . We elucidated the virological characteristics of new SARS-CoV-2 variant of interest, XBB.1.16 (aka #Arcturus) Please RT🔥 1/ thelancet.com/journals/lanin…
XBB.1.16 = XBB.1 + #F486P, #E180V, and #T478K in spike.
cf. XBB.1.5 = XBB.1 + #F486P in spike (i.e., XBB.1.16 = XBB.1.5 + #E180V and #T478K in spike). 2/
A phylogenetic tree shows that XBB.1.16 is a descendant of XBB.1, not of XBB.1.5. 3/
BREAKING🔔 We introduce the latest work from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 focusing on the virological characteristics of new SARS-CoV-2 lineage of concern, XBB.1.5 (aka #Kraken), which is rapidly spreading in the US🇺🇸 Please RT! Preprint/peer-review paper will come soon🔥 1/
XBB.1.5 = XBB.1 + #F486P in spike. We also found that a part of XBB.1.5 has reversion mutation in Y144del (=XBB.1.5 + #ins144Y) in spike. Because #Y144del evades antiviral immunity and decreases pseudovirus infectivity, its reversion might be also critical. 2/
First, a brilliant young talent, @jampei2, showed that the relative basic reproduction number (Re) of XBB.1.5 is >1.2-fold greater than the parental XBB.1 (❗️). Importantly the "1.2-fold difference" is similar to the differences between BA.1 versus BA.2 and BA.2 versus BA.5. 3/