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SARS-CoV-2 Delta (B.1.617.2) Variant: A Unique T478K Mutation in Receptor Binding Motif (RBM) of Spike Gene

  • Hyunjhung Jhun (Technical Assistance Center, Korea Food Research Institute) ;
  • Ho-Young Park (Research group of Functional Food Materials, Korea Food Research Institute) ;
  • Yasmin Hisham (Laboratory of Cytokine Immunology, Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Konkuk University) ;
  • Chang-Seon Song (College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University) ;
  • Soohyun Kim (Laboratory of Cytokine Immunology, Department of Biomedical Science and Technology, Konkuk University)
  • Received : 2021.08.24
  • Accepted : 2021.09.29
  • Published : 2021.10.31
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Abstract

Over two hundred twenty-eight million cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the world have been reported until the 21st of September 2021 after the first rise in December 2019. The virus caused the disease called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Over 4 million deaths blame COVID-19 during the last one year and 8 months in the world. Currently, four SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern are mainly focused by pandemic studies with limited experiments to translate the infectivity and pathogenicity of each variant. The SARS-CoV-2 α, β, γ, and δ variant of concern was originated from United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil/Japan, and India, respectively. The classification of SARS-CoV-2 variant is based on the mutation in spike (S) gene on the envelop of SARS-CoV-2. This review describes four SARS-CoV-2 α, β, γ, and δ variants of concern including SARS-CoV-2 ε, ζ, η, ι, κ, and B.1.617.3 variants of interest and alert. Recently, SARS-CoV-2 δ variant prevails over different countries that have 3 unique mutation sites: E156del/R158G in the N-terminal domain and T478K in a crucial receptor binding domain. A particular mutation in the functional domain of the S gene is probably associated with the infectivity and pathogenesis of the SARS-CoV-2 variant.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This paper was written as part of Konkuk University's research support program for its faculty on sabbatical leave in 2022. This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2021R1F1A1057397). This research was supported by Main Research Program (E0210503-01) of the Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

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