Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The viral genome encodes twelve genes for viral replication and infection. The third open reading frame is the spike (S) gene that encodes for the spike glycoprotein interacting with specific cell surface receptor – angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) – on the host cell membrane. Most recent studies identified a single point mutation in S gene. A single point mutation in S gene leading to an amino acid substitution at codon 614 from an aspartic acid 614 into glycine (D614G) resulted in greater infectivity compared to the wild type SARS-CoV2. We were interested in investigating the mutation region of S gene of SARS-CoV2 from Korean COVID-19 patients. New mutation sites were found in the critical receptor binding domain (RBD) of S gene, which is adjacent to the aforementioned D614G mutation residue. This specific sequence data demonstrated the active progression of SARS-CoV2 by mutations in the RBD of S gene. The sequence information of new mutations is critical to the development of recombinant SARS-CoV2 spike antigens, which may be required to improve and advance the strategy against a wide range of possible SARS-CoV2 mutations.

中文翻译：

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SARS 冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV2) 的进展：Spike 基因受体结合域的突变

严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV2) 是一种正链单链 RNA (+ssRNA)，可导致 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19)。病毒基因组编码 12 个用于病毒复制和感染的基因。第三个开放阅读框是刺突 (S) 基因，它编码与宿主细胞膜上的特定细胞表面受体——血管紧张素转化酶 2 (ACE2) 相互作用的刺突糖蛋白。最近的研究确定了 S 基因的单点突变。与野生型 SARS-CoV2 相比，S 基因中的单点突变导致密码子 614 处的氨基酸从天冬氨酸 614 替换为甘氨酸 (D614G)，从而导致更大的传染性。我们有兴趣研究来自韩国 COVID-19 患者的 SARS-CoV2 的 S 基因突变区域。在与上述 D614G 突变残基相邻的 S 基因的关键受体结合域 (RBD) 中发现了新的突变位点。这一特定的序列数据通过 S 基因的 RBD 突变证明了 SARS-CoV2 的积极进展。新突变的序列信息对于重组 SARS-CoV2 刺突抗原的开发至关重要，这可能需要改进和推进针对各种可能的 SARS-CoV2 突变的策略。