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Version 1
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Causes and Consequences of Coronavirus Spike Protein Variability
Version 1
: Received: 29 December 2023 / Approved: 3 January 2024 / Online: 3 January 2024 (09:58:32 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Zech, F.; Jung, C.; Jacob, T.; Kirchhoff, F. Causes and Consequences of Coronavirus Spike Protein Variability. Viruses 2024, 16, 177. Zech, F.; Jung, C.; Jacob, T.; Kirchhoff, F. Causes and Consequences of Coronavirus Spike Protein Variability. Viruses 2024, 16, 177.
Abstract
Coronaviruses are a large family of diverse enveloped RNA viruses found in numerous animal species. They are well-known for their ability to cross species barriers and have been transmitted from bats or intermediate hosts to humans on several occasions. Four of the seven human coronaviruses (hCoVs) are responsible for approximately 20% of common colds (hCoV-229E, -NL63, -OC43, -HKU1). Two others (SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV) cause severe and frequently lethal respiratory syndromes but have only spread to very limited extents in human populations. In contrast, SARS-CoV-2, while exhibiting intermediate pathogenicity, has a profound impact on public health due to its enormous spread. In this review, we discuss which initial features of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and subsequent adaptations to the new human host may have helped this pathogen to cause the COVID-19 pandemic. Our focus is on host forces driving changes in the Spike protein and their consequences for virus infectivity, pathogenicity, immune evasion and resistance to preventive or therapeutic agents. In addition, we discuss the significance and perspectives of broad-spectrum therapeutics and vaccines.
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2; Sarbecovirus; Spike; mutation; manifestation; immune evasion; zoonoses
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Virology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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