TY - JOUR
AU - Ito, Jumpei
AU - Suzuki, Rigel
AU - Itakura, Yukari
AU - Zahradnik, Jiri
AU - Kimura, Kanako Terakado
AU - Deguchi, Sayaka
AU - Lytras, Spyros
AU - Tamura, Tomokazu
AU - Kida, Izumi
AU - Nasser, Hesham
AU - Shofa, Maya
AU - Begum, Mst. Monira
AU - Tsuda, Masumi
AU - Oda, Yoshitaka
AU - Suzuki, Tateki
AU - Sasaki, Jiei
AU - Sasaki-Tabata, Kaori
AU - Fujita, Shigeru
AU - Yoshimatsu, Kumiko
AU - Ito, Hayato
AU - Nao, Naganori
AU - Asakura, Hiroyuki
AU - Nagashima, Mami
AU - Sadamasu, Kenji
AU - Yoshimura, Kazuhisa
AU - Yamamoto, Yuki
AU - Nagamoto, Tetsuharu
AU - Kuramochi, Jin
AU - Schreiber, Gideon
AU - Saito, Akatsuki
AU - Matsuno, Keita
AU - Takayama, Kazuo
AU - Hashiguchi, Takao
AU - Tanaka, Shinya
AU - Fukuhara, Takasuke
AU - Ikeda, Terumasa
AU - Uriu, Keiya
AU - Wang, Lei
AU - Sato, Kei
AU - Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium
PY - 2023
DA - May
TI - Convergent evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants leading to the emergence of BQ.1.1 variant
JO - Nature Communications
VL - 14
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38188-z
AB - In late 2022, various Omicron subvariants emerged and cocirculated worldwide. These variants convergently acquired amino acid substitutions at critical residues in the spike protein, including residues R346, K444, L452, N460, and F486. Here, we characterize the convergent evolution of Omicron subvariants and the properties of one recent lineage of concern, BQ.1.1. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that these five substitutions are recurrently acquired, particularly in younger Omicron lineages. Epidemic dynamics modelling suggests that the five substitutions increase viral fitness, and a large proportion of the fitness variation within Omicron lineages can be explained by these substitutions. Compared to BA.5, BQ.1.1 evades breakthrough BA.2 and BA.5 infection sera more efficiently, as demonstrated by neutralization assays. The pathogenicity of BQ.1.1 in hamsters is lower than that of BA.5. Our multiscale investigations illuminate the evolutionary rules governing the convergent evolution for known Omicron lineages as of 2022.
PB - Springer Nature
UR - https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/298281/
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
ER