Preprint: Coronaviruses with a SARS-CoV-2-like RBD isolated from bats of the Indochinese peninsula

“We found that the RBDs of these viruses differ from that of SARS-CoV-2 by only one or two residues”

Here we show that such viruses indeed circulate in cave bats living in the limestone karstic terrain in North Laos, within the Indochinese peninsula.  More...

Preprint: Persistent coronavirus infection and intra-host evolution in association with advanced HIV infection

“Here we present a case of prolonged infection of greater than 6 months with shedding of high titer SARS-CoV-2 in an individual with advanced HIV and antiretroviral treatment failure.  More...

Antibody resistance of coronavirus variants B.1.351 (SA) and B.1.1.7 (UK)

“Findings on B.1.351 [South Africa variant] are more worrisome in that this variant is not only refractory to neutralization by most NTD mAbs but also by multiple individual mAbs to the receptor-binding motif on RBD, largely owing to an E484K mutation.  More...

Sars-Cov-2 lab variant bound 600 times more successfully to human cells than the original strain

The naturally selected mutations S477N, E484K, and N501Y of the Spike protein RBD, which show higher infectivity, were selected by yeast surface display affinity maturation already in the first round, giving rise to the South-African, E484K, N501Y, and British variants that bind ACE2 13 and 3.5-fold tighter than RBD-WT.  More...