PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Izumi Kimura
AU  - Yusuke Kosugi
AU  - Jiaqi Wu
AU  - Daichi Yamasoba
AU  - Erika P Butlertanaka
AU  - Yuri L Tanaka
AU  - Yafei Liu
AU  - Kotaro Shirakawa
AU  - Yasuhiro Kazuma
AU  - Ryosuke Nomura
AU  - Yoshihito Horisawa
AU  - Kenzo Tokunaga
AU  - Akifumi Takaori-Kondo
AU  - Hisashi Arase
AU  - The Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium
AU  - Akatsuki Saito
AU  - So Nakagawa
AU  - Kei Sato
TI  - SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant exhibits higher infectivity and immune resistance
AID  - 10.1101/2021.07.28.454085
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.07.28.454085
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/28/2021.07.28.454085.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/28/2021.07.28.454085.full
AB  - SARS-CoV-2 Lambda, a new variant of interest, is now spreading in some South American countries; however, its virological features and evolutionary trait remain unknown. Here we reveal that the spike protein of the Lambda variant is more infectious and it is attributed to the T76I and L452Q mutations. The RSYLTPGD246-253N mutation, a unique 7-amino-acid deletion mutation in the N-terminal domain of the Lambda spike protein, is responsible for evasion from neutralizing antibodies. Since the Lambda variant has dominantly spread according to the increasing frequency of the isolates harboring the RSYLTPGD246-253N mutation, our data suggest that the insertion of the RSYLTPGD246-253N mutation is closely associated with the massive infection spread of the Lambda variant in South America.HighlightsLambda S is highly infectious and T76I and L452Q are responsible for this propertyLambda S is more susceptible to an infection-enhancing antibodyRSYLTPGD246-253N, L452Q and F490S confer resistance to antiviral immunityCompeting Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.