SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein D614G mutation increases virion spike density and infectivity

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 variants with spike (S)-protein D614G mutations currently predominate globally. Here, Zhang et al. hypothesize that D614G variant may increase infectivity by increasing S protein abundance on the virion since pseudoviruses carrying S-G614 incorporate higher amounts of S protein and enter cells more efficiently than those carrying S-D614.