Population Dynamics and Structural Effects at Short and Long Range Support the Hypothesis of the Selective Advantage of the G614 SARS-CoV-2 Spike Variant.
Mol Biol Evol
; 38(5): 1966-1979, 2021 05 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1387957
ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 epidemics quickly propagated worldwide, sorting virus genomic variants in newly established propagules of infections. Stochasticity in transmission within and between countries or an actual selective advantage could explain the global high frequency reached by some genomic variants. Using statistical analyses, demographic reconstructions, and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the globally invasive G614 spike variant 1) underwent a significant demographic expansion in most countries explained neither by stochastic effects nor by overrepresentation in clinical samples, 2) increases the spike S1/S2 furin-like site conformational plasticity (short-range effect), and 3) modifies the internal motion of the receptor-binding domain affecting its cross-connection with other functional domains (long-range effect). Our results support the hypothesis of a selective advantage at the basis of the spread of the G614 variant, which we suggest may be due to structural modification of the spike protein at the S1/S2 proteolytic site, and provide structural information to guide the design of variant-specific drugs.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Selection, Genetic
/
Mutation, Missense
/
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Mol Biol Evol
Journal subject:
Molecular Biology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
MOLBEV
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