AUTHOR=Laiton-Donato Katherine , Usme-Ciro Jose A. , Franco-Muñoz Carlos , Álvarez-Díaz Diego A. , Ruiz-Moreno Hector Alejandro , Reales-González Jhonnatan , Prada Diego Andrés , Corchuelo Sheryll , Herrera-Sepúlveda Maria T. , Naizaque Julian , Santamaría Gerardo , Wiesner Magdalena , Walteros Diana Marcela , Ospina Martínez Martha Lucia , Mercado-Reyes Marcela TITLE=Novel Highly Divergent SARS-CoV-2 Lineage With the Spike Substitutions L249S and E484K JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine VOLUME=8 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.697605 DOI=10.3389/fmed.2021.697605 ISSN=2296-858X ABSTRACT=

COVID-19 pandemics has led to genetic diversification of SARS-CoV-2 and the appearance of variants with potential impact in transmissibility and viral escape from acquired immunity. We report a new and highly divergent lineage containing 21 distinctive mutations (10 non-synonymous, eight synonymous, and three substitutions in non-coding regions). The amino acid changes L249S and E484K located at the CTD and RBD of the Spike protein could be of special interest due to their potential biological role in the virus-host relationship. Further studies are required for monitoring the epidemiologic impact of this new lineage.