scholarly journals Neutralizing efficacy of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 Mu variant

Author(s):  
Kei Miyakawa ◽  
Sundararaj Stanleyraj Jeremiah ◽  
Hideaki Kato ◽  
Akihide Ryo

The rise of mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2 poses an additional problem to the existing pandemic of COVID-19. There are rising concerns about the Mu variant which can escape humoral immunity acquired from infections from previous strains or vaccines. We examined the neutralizing efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against the Mu variant and report that the vaccine has 76% neutralizing effectiveness against the Mu compared to 96% with the original strain. We also show that Mu, similar to the Delta variant, causes cell-to-cell fusion which can be an additional factor for the variant to escape vaccine-mediated humoral immunity. Despite the rise in vaccine escape strains, the vaccine still possesses adequate ability to neutralize majority of the mutants.

Genetics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-243
Author(s):  
Ursula W Goodenough ◽  
Carol Hwang ◽  
A Jane Warren

ABSTRACT Mutant strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardi that have lost their ability to undergo sexual agglutination via their flagellar tips have been induced to undergo zygotic cell fusion and meiosis, using a flagellar-directed antiserum. Genetic analysis of antiserum-mediated crosses involving five nonagglutinating mt  + mutant strains reveals the following: (1) None of the mutations is linked to the mt locus. (2) All of the mutations are "sex-limited," meaning that they can be carried and transmitted by, but not expressed in, mt  - cells. (3) Four of the mutations (imp-2, imp-5, imp-6, imp-7) are either allelic or closely linked to one another, with imp-8 defining a second locus.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-760
Author(s):  
Do Thi Tuyen ◽  
Nguyen The Duong ◽  
Le Thanh Hoang

Acarbose has been widely used in the therapy of type II diabetes (non-insulin dependent) because it controls blood sugar contents of patients after meals. Acarbose, a pseudo-oligosaccharide, acts as a competitive -glucosidase inhibitor. Acarbose is produced by the strains of Bacillus, Streptomyces and Actinoplanes sp. The aim of this study was to develop mutagenesis for an Actinoplanes sp. strain and screening for acarbose production. The spores of Actinoplanes sp. KCTC 9161 strain were subjected to be mutated by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NTG) for screening and finding mutant strains that were capable of production of higher acarbose (an inhibitor of α-glucosidase) higher than wild type strain. Firstly, the original NTG solution was prepared in phosphate buffer 0.05 M, pH 6.9 and the safety concentration of NTG was determined at 5 mg/ml. Then, the spores were incubated with different NTG amounts and duration. The living colonies were transferred to fermentation medium. The results obtained showed that 15 mutant strains were produced higher acarbose than wild type when used thin layer chromatography method for analysis and comparing with standard acarbose (Sigma). Three cell lines among total tested 15 mutant lines of Actinoplanes sp. KCTC 9161 produced acarbose at a higher level or indicated a higher inhibitory activity toward α-glucosidase than the original strain. Enzymatic inhibitory ativity of α-glucosidase of three mutant strains (Actinoplanes sp. KCTC- L4, L11, L14) was increased 1.3 fold higher than wild type and Actinoplanes sp. KCTC spores were very sensitive to NTG toxic, 98% spores could not survive at the treatment condition of 50 µg NTG for 30 minutes. In addition, an applicable protocol for mutating Actinoplanes sp. using NTG was suggested for further research.


Genetics ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-186
Author(s):  
Ursula W Goodenough ◽  
Carol Hwang ◽  
Howard Martin

ABSTRACT Impotent mutant strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardi, mating-type (mt) plus, are described that have normal growth and motility but fail to differentiate into normal gametes. Procedures for their isolation and their genetic analysis are described. Five of the imp strains (imp-2, imp-5, imp-6, imp-7, and imp-8) exhibit no flagellar agglutination when mixed with mt  - or mt  + gametes; these strains have been induced to form rare zygotes with mt  - gametes and the mutations are shown to be unlinked to the mt locus (with the possible exception of imp-7). Two of the strains (imp-3 and imp-4) carry leaky mutations that affect cell fusion; neither mutation is found by tetrad analysis to be linked to mt or to the other. Cells of the imp-1 strain agglutinate well with mt  - gametes and active agglutination continues for up to 48 hours, but cell fusion occurs only very rarely. Analysis of these rare zygotes indicates that imp-1 is closely linked to the mt  + locus, and fine-structural studies reveal that imp-1gametes produce a mutant mating structure involved in zygotic cell fusion. The development of sexuality in C. reinhardi therefore appears amenable to genetic dissection.


1980 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Pažoutová ◽  
Zdeněk Řeháček ◽  
Josef Voříšek

Aggregates of sclerotialike (SL) cells, present normally among filamentous sphacelial hyphae of submerged cultures of Claviceps purpurea strain 129 synthesizing clavine alkaloids, may represent an adaptation to unfavorable environmental conditions. Their formation can be induced by dyes (acriflavine, toluidine blue, fluorescein, basic fuchsin, ethidium bromide, and methylene blue). A treatment of the original strain with ethyl methanesulphonate yielded five mutants with stable SL phenotypes. Electron microscopy was used to illustrate the morphogenetic processes in mutant strains and the fragmentation of SL clusters to arthrospores.


2011 ◽  
Vol 343-344 ◽  
pp. 551-555
Author(s):  
Shao Jiong Zhong ◽  
Wei Qi ◽  
Hai Kuan Wang

A strain improvement program was developed to increase lipase production by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus D29, in which mutants were generated by Ultraviolet (UV) radiation and selected by resistance to 1.5% (w/v) sodium citrate. One of the mutant strains UN9 exhibited 48.69% more lipase activity than the original strain did. Although the UV random mutagenesis alone is an effective method for general strain improvement, our results showed that UV mutagenesis combined with selection for sodium citrate resistance is a more efficient strategy for screening mutant strains with enhanced lipase production.


2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Júlia Kuklinsky-Sobral ◽  
Elza Áurea de Luna-Alves-Lima ◽  
Janete Magali de Araújo ◽  
João Lúcio Azevedo

Protoplast isolation and regeneration were evaluated in two wild-type and two colour mutant strains of Metarhizium flavoviride. Cultivation in liquid medium, followed by mycelium treatment with Novozym 234 in the presence of KCl 0.7M as osmotic stabilizer, produced 5.05 x 10(6) to 1.15 x 10(7)x mL-1 protoplasts. The percentage of regeneration ranged from 6.65 to 27.92%. Following protoplast regeneration, one strain produced spontaneously stable morphological variant colonies. Although colonies with altered morphology have been reported in bacteria following protoplast regeneration, this is the first time that the same is described in a filamentous fungus. The original strain and one derived variant were tested for sensitivity to the fungicides benomyl and captan.


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