Unit of Microbiology, The Greater Romagna Area Hub Laboratory, 47522, Cesena, Italy.
Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES)-Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, 40138, Bologna, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 21;12(1):12479. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16533-4.
The ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and the emergence of new viral variants bearing specific escape mutations responsible for immune evasion from antibody neutralisation has required a more accurate characterisation of the immune response as one of the evolutive forces behind viral adaptation to a largely immunised human population. In this work, culturing in the presence of neutralising sera vigorously promoted mutagenesis leading to the acquisition of known escape mutations on the spike as well as new presumptive escape mutations on structural proteins whose role as target of the neutralizing antibody response might have been thus far widely neglected. From this perspective, this study, in addition to tracing the past evolution of the species back to interactions with neutralising antibody immune response, also offers a glimpse into future evolutive scenarios.
SARS-CoV-2 的持续进化以及出现新的病毒变种，这些变种带有特定的逃逸突变，能够逃避抗体中和作用，这使得我们需要更准确地描述免疫反应，将其视为病毒适应大部分免疫人群的进化力量之一。在这项工作中，在存在中和血清的情况下培养有力地促进了突变，导致刺突上获得已知的逃逸突变，以及结构蛋白上的新假定逃逸突变，这些突变的作用作为中和抗体反应的靶标可能迄今为止被广泛忽视。从这个角度来看，这项研究除了追溯该物种的过去进化，追溯到与中和抗体免疫反应的相互作用，还提供了对未来进化场景的一瞥。
