| First Author | Zhou B | Year | 2021 |
| Journal | Nature | Volume | 592 |
| Issue | 7852 | Pages | 122-127 |
| PubMed ID | 33636719 | Mgi Jnum | J:305777 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6710199 | Doi | 10.1038/s41586-021-03361-1 |
| Citation | Zhou B, et al. (2021) SARS-CoV-2 spike D614G change enhances replication and transmission. Nature 592(7852):122-127 |
| abstractText | During the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in humans, a D614G substitution in the spike glycoprotein (S) has emerged; virus containing this substitution has become the predominant circulating variant in the COVID-19 pandemic(1). However, whether the increasing prevalence of this variant reflects a fitness advantage that improves replication and/or transmission in humans or is merely due to founder effects remains unknown. Here we use isogenic SARS-CoV-2 variants to demonstrate that the variant that contains S(D614G) has enhanced binding to the human cell-surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), increased replication in primary human bronchial and nasal airway epithelial cultures as well as in a human ACE2 knock-in mouse model, and markedly increased replication and transmissibility in hamster and ferret models of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our data show that the D614G substitution in S results in subtle increases in binding and replication in vitro, and provides a real competitive advantage in vivo-particularly during the transmission bottleneck. Our data therefore provide an explanation for the global predominance of the variant that contains S(D614G) among the SARS-CoV-2 viruses that are currently circulating. |
