SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein More Infectious.

• Position: COVID MUTATIONS

A mutation in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2--one of several genetic mutations in the concerning variants that have emerged in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil--makes the virus up to eight times more infectious in human cells than the initial virus that originated in China, according to research published in the journal eLife.

The study--led by researchers at New York University, New York Genome Center, and Mount Sinai Hospital--corroborates findings that the D614G mutation makes SARS-CoV-2 more transmissible.

"In the months since we initially conducted this study, the importance of the D614G mutation has grown: the mutation has reached near universal prevalence and is included in all current variants of concern. Confirming that the mutation leads to more transmissibility may help explain, in part, why the virus has spread so rapidly over the past year," says Neville Sanjana, assistant professor of biology at NYU, assistant professor of neuroscience and physiology at NYU School of Medicine, and core faculty member at the New York Genome Center.

The D614G mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein--commonly referred to as the "G variant"--likely emerged in early 2020 and now is the mostprevalent and dominant form of the SARS-CoV-2 virus across the U.S. and in many countries around the globe. With multiple mutations circulating, researchers have been working to understand the functional significance of these mutations and whether they meaningfully change how infectious or deadly the virus is.

The researchers found that the D614G variant increased transduction, or transmissibility, of the virus up to eight-fold as compared to the original virus. They also discovered that the spike protein mutation made the virus more resistant to being cleaved or split by other...