Spike gene deletion quasispecies in serum of patient with acute MERS-CoV infection.

Authors: Lu, Xiaoyan and Rowe, Lori A and Frace, Michael and Stevens, James and Abedi, Glen R and Elnile, Osman and Banassir, Taleb and Al-Masri, Malak and Watson, John T and Assiri, Abdullah and Erdman, Dean D

The spike glycoprotein of the Middle East respiratory coronavirus (MERS-CoV) facilitates receptor binding and cell entry. During investigation of a multi-facility outbreak of MERS-CoV in Taif, Saudi Arabia, we identified a mixed population of wild-type and variant sequences with a large 530 nucleotide deletion in the spike gene from the serum of one patient. The out of frame deletion predicted loss of most of the S2 subunit of the spike protein leaving the S1 subunit with an intact receptor binding domain. This finding documents human infection with a novel genetic variant of MERS-CoV present as a quasispecies. J. Med. Virol. 89:542-545, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Journal: Journal of medical virology
DOI: 10.1002/jmv.24652
Year: 2017

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