Mutational dynamics across VOCs in International travellers and Community transmission underscores importance of Spike-ACE2 interaction

• DOI: 10.1016/j.micres.2022.127099
• Publication Date: 2022-06-25T06:00:03Z
• Authors: Priyanka Mehta; Varsha Ravi; Priti Devi; Ranjeet Maurya; Shaista Parveen; Pallavi Mishra; Aanchal Yadav; Aparna Swaminathan; Sheeba Saifi; Kriti Khare; Partha Chattopadhyay; Monika Yadav; Nar Singh Chauhan; Bansidhar Tarai; Sandeep Budhiraja; Uzma Shamim; Rajesh Pandey
• Keywords: Infectivity; Linkage Disequilibrium; Lineage (genetic)

Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs at different time points through COVID-19 pandemic raised concern for increased transmissibility, infectivity and vaccination breakthroughs.1567 international travellers plus community transmission cases were analysed mutational profile VOCS, that led to notable waves in India, namely Alpha, Delta, Omicron. Spike mutations Linkage Disequilibrium investigated potential impact on structural functional changes Spike-ACE2.ORF1ab spike harboured diverse signatures each lineage. B.1.617.2 AY. * demonstrated comparable profile, yet non-clade defining majorly unique between vs samples. Contrarily, Omicron lineages showed substantial overlap mutations, signifying early phase evolution within Indian community. Mutations LD Alpha [N501Y, A570D, D1118H, S982A], Delta [P681R, L452R, EFR:156-158 G, D950N, G142D] [P681H, D796Y, N764K, N969K, N501Y, S375F] resulted decreased binding affinity Spike-ACE2 BA.1 whereas BA.2 strong binding.Genomic surveillance tracked spread travellers' transmission. Behavioural patterns variants, based selective advantage incurred by us predict sudden takeover over India.