Key mutations in the spike protein of SARS‐CoV‐2 affecting neutralization resistance and viral internalization

Abstract To control the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic, a variety of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) vaccines have been developed. However, the rapid mutations of SARS‐CoV‐2 spike (S) protein may reduce the protective efficacy of the existing vaccines which is mainly determined by the level of neutralizing antibodies targeting S. In this study, we screened prevalent S mutations and constructed 124 pseudotyped lentiviral particles carrying these mutants. We challenged these pseudoviruses with sera vaccinated by Sinovac CoronaVac and ZF2001 vaccines, two popular vaccines designed for the initial strain of SARS‐CoV‐2, and then systematically assessed the susceptivity of these SARS‐CoV‐2 variants to the immune sera of vaccines. As a result, 14 S mutants (H146Y, V320I + S477N, V382L, K444R, L455F + S477N, L452M + F486L, F486L, Y508H, P521R, A626S, S477N + S698L, A701V, S477N + T778I, E1144Q) were found to be significantly resistant to neutralization, indicating reduced protective efficacy of the vaccines against these SARS‐CoV‐2 variants. In addition, F486L and Y508H significantly enhanced the utilization of human angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2, suggesting a potentially elevated infectivity of these two mutants. In conclusion, our results show that some prevalent S mutations of SARS‐CoV‐2 reduced the protective efficacy of current vaccines and enhance the infectivity of the virus, indicating the necessity of vaccine renewal and providing direction for the development of new vaccines.