July 29, 2020

Coronavirus Research Updates: Mutations Allow Virus To Elude Antibodies-Nature

Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 might help the virus to thwart potent immune molecules. Theodora Hatziioannou and Paul Bieniasz at the Rockefeller University in New York City and their colleagues engineered a version of the vesicular stomatitis virus, which infects livestock, to make the spike protein. They then grew the virus in the presence of neutralizing antibodies. The spike protein in the engineered viruses acquired mutations that allowed the viruses to escape recognition by a range of neutralizing antibodies. Nature, 07/28/2020