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Pseudotyped Bat Coronavirus RaTG13 is efficiently neutralised by convalescent sera from SARS-CoV-2 infected Patients

Cantoni, Diego, Mayora-Neto, Martin, Thakur, Nazia, Elrefaey, Ahmed, Joseph, Newman, Vishwanath, Sneha, Nadesalingam, Angalee, Chan, Andrew, Smith, Peter, Castillo-Olivares, Javier, and others. (2022) Pseudotyped Bat Coronavirus RaTG13 is efficiently neutralised by convalescent sera from SARS-CoV-2 infected Patients. Communications Biology, 5 . Article Number 409. ISSN 2399-3642. E-ISSN 2399-3642. (doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03325-9) (KAR id:93206)

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Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03325-9

Abstract

RaTG13 is a close relative of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, sharing 96% sequence similarity at the genome-wide level. The spike receptor binding domain (RBD) of RaTG13 contains a number of amino acid substitutions when compared to SARS-CoV-2, likely impacting affinity for the ACE2 receptor. Antigenic differences between the viruses are less well understood, especially whether RaTG13 spike can be efficiently neutralised by antibodies generated from infection with, or vaccination against, SARS-CoV-2. Using RaTG13 and SARS-CoV-2 pseudotypes we compared neutralisation using convalescent sera from previously infected patients or vaccinated healthcare workers. Surprisingly, our results revealed that RaTG13 was more efficiently neutralised than SARS-CoV-2. In addition, neutralisation assays using spike mutants harbouring single and combinatorial amino acid substitutions within the RBD demonstrated that both spike proteins can tolerate multiple changes without dramatically reducing neutralisation. Moreover, introducing the 484K mutation into RaTG13 resulted in increased neutralisation, in contrast to the same mutation in SARS-CoV-2 (E484K). This is despite E484K having a well-documented role in immune evasion in variants of concern (VOC) such as B.1.351 (Beta). These results indicate that the future spill-over of RaTG13 and/or related sarbecoviruses could be mitigated using current SARS-CoV-2-based vaccination strategies.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1038/s42003-022-03325-9
Uncontrolled keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; RaTG13
Subjects: Q Science > QR Microbiology > QR355 Virology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Medway School of Pharmacy
Depositing User: Nigel Temperton
Date Deposited: 15 Feb 2022 21:32 UTC
Last Modified: 15 Aug 2022 15:51 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/93206 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
Temperton, Nigel J.: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7978-3815
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