Frontiers in Virology (Mar 2024)

Virological characteristics correlating with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein fusogenicity

  • MST Monira Begum,
  • Kimiko Ichihara,
  • Otowa Takahashi,
  • Hesham Nasser,
  • Hesham Nasser,
  • Michael Jonathan,
  • Michael Jonathan,
  • Kenzo Tokunaga,
  • Isao Yoshida,
  • Mami Nagashima,
  • Kenji Sadamasu,
  • Kazuhisa Yoshimura,
  • The Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium,
  • Kei Sato,
  • Kei Sato,
  • Kei Sato,
  • Kei Sato,
  • Kei Sato,
  • Kei Sato,
  • Kei Sato,
  • Terumasa Ikeda,
  • Keita Matsuno,
  • Naganori Nao,
  • Hirofumi Sawa,
  • Shinya Tanaka,
  • Masumi Tsuda,
  • Lei Wang,
  • Yoshikata Oda,
  • Zannatul Ferdous,
  • Kenji Shishido,
  • Takasuke Fukuhara,
  • Tomokazu Tamura,
  • Rigel Suzuki,
  • Saori Suzuki,
  • Hayato Ito,
  • Jumpei Ito,
  • Yu Kaku,
  • Naoko Misawa,
  • Arnon Plianchaisuk,
  • Ziyi Guo,
  • Alfredo Jr. Hinay,
  • Keiya Uriu,
  • Yusuke Kosugi,
  • Shigeru Fujita,
  • Jarel Elgin Mendoza Tolentino,
  • Luo Chen,
  • Lin Pan6,
  • Mai Suganami,
  • Mika Chiba,
  • Ryo Yoshimura,
  • Kyoko Yasuda,
  • Keiko Iida,
  • Naomi Ohsumi,
  • Adam Patrick Strange,
  • Hiroyuki Asakura,
  • Isao Yoshida,
  • So Nakagawa,
  • Akifumi Takaori-Kondo,
  • Kotaro Shirakawa,
  • Kayoko Nagata,
  • Ryosuke Nomura,
  • Yoshihito Horisawa,
  • Yusuke Tashiro,
  • Yugo Kawai,
  • Kazuo Takayama,
  • Rina Hashimoto,
  • Sayaka Deguchi,
  • Yukio Watanabe,
  • Ayaka Sakamoto,
  • Naoko Yasuhara,
  • Takao Hashiguchi,
  • Tateki Suzuki,
  • Kanako Kimura,
  • Jiei Sasaki,
  • Yukari Nakajima,
  • Hisano Yajima,
  • Takashi Irie,
  • Ryoko Kawabata,
  • Kaori Tabata,
  • Ryo Shimizu1,
  • Yuka Mugita1,
  • Takamasa Ueno,
  • Chihiro Motozono,
  • Mako Toyoda,
  • Akatsuki Saito,
  • Maya Shofa,
  • Yuki Shibatani,
  • Tomoko Nishiuchi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fviro.2024.1353661
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4

Abstract

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IntroductionThe severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein is essential in mediating membrane fusion of the virus with the target cells. Several reports demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 S protein fusogenicity is reportedly closely associated with the intrinsic pathogenicity of the virus determined using hamster models. However, the association between S protein fusogenicity and other virological parameters remains elusive.MethodsIn this study, we investigated the virological parameters (e.g., S1/S2 cleavage efficiency, plaque size, pseudoviral infectivity, pseudovirus entry efficiency, and viral replication kinetics) of eleven previous variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs) correlating with S protein fusogenicity.Results and discussionS protein fusogenicity was found to be strongly correlated with S1/S2 cleavage efficiency and plaque size formed by clinical isolates. However, S protein fusogenicity was less associated with pseudoviral infectivity, pseudovirus entry efficiency, and viral replication kinetics. Taken together, our results suggest that S1/S2 cleavage efficiency and plaque size could be potential indicators to predict the intrinsic pathogenicity and S protein fusogenicity of newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants.

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