Comparative Analysis of Emerging B.1.1.7+E484K SARS-CoV-2 Isolates

Ahmed M Moustafa; Colleen Bianco; Lidiya Denu; Azad Ahmed; Susan E Coffin; Brandy Neide; John Everett; Shantan Reddy; Emilie Rabut; Jasmine Deseignora; Michael D Feldman; Kyle G Rodino; Frederic Bushman; Rebecca M Harris; Josh Chang Mell; Paul J Planet

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofab300

Comparative Analysis of Emerging B.1.1.7+E484K SARS-CoV-2 Isolates

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2021 Jun 4;8(7):ofab300. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofab300. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Authors

Ahmed M Moustafa^{1

2}, Colleen Bianco¹, Lidiya Denu¹, Azad Ahmed³, Susan E Coffin¹, Brandy Neide¹, John Everett⁴, Shantan Reddy⁴, Emilie Rabut⁵, Jasmine Deseignora⁵, Michael D Feldman⁶, Kyle G Rodino⁶, Frederic Bushman⁴, Rebecca M Harris^{6

7}, Josh Chang Mell³, Paul J Planet^{1

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
² Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
³ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Center for Genomic Sciences, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁴ Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁵ Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁶ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, Perelman College of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁸ Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA.

Abstract

We report the genome of a B.1.1.7+E484K severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 from Southeastern Pennsylvania and compare it with all high-coverage B.1.1.7+E484K genomes (n = 235) available. Analyses showed the existence of at least 4 distinct clades of this variant circulating in the United States and the possibility of at least 59 independent acquisitions of the E484K mutation.

Keywords: B.1.1.7+E484K; convergent; escape mutation; vaccine; variant of concern.