Department of Biochemical Sciences "A. Rossi Fanelli", Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Medical Statistic and Molecular Epidemiology Unit, University of Biomedical Campus, 00128 Rome, Italy.
Biomolecules. 2021 Oct 10;11(10):1494. doi: 10.3390/biom11101494.
Among the more recently identified SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Interest (VOI) is the Lambda variant, which emerged in Peru and has rapidly spread to South American regions and the US. This variant remains poorly investigated, particularly regarding the effects of mutations on the thermodynamic parameters affecting the stability of the Spike protein and its Receptor Binding Domain. We report here an in silico study on the potential impact of the Spike protein mutations on the immuno-escape ability of the Lambda variant. Bioinformatics analysis suggests that a combination of shortening the immunogenic epitope loops and the generation of potential N-glycosylation sites may be a viable adaptation strategy, potentially allowing this emerging viral variant to escape from host immunity.
在最近被确定的 SARS-CoV-2 变体中，Lambda 变体引人注目，它最初在秘鲁出现，并迅速传播到南美地区和美国。目前对这种变体的研究还很不完善，特别是关于突变对影响 Spike 蛋白及其受体结合域稳定性的热力学参数的影响。在这里，我们报告了一项关于 Spike 蛋白突变对 Lambda 变体免疫逃逸能力潜在影响的计算研究。生物信息学分析表明，缩短免疫原性表位环和产生潜在 N-糖基化位点的组合可能是一种可行的适应策略，这可能使这种新出现的病毒变体能够逃避宿主免疫。
