Result: The region coding for the
spike protein accumulated a significant number of high-frequency (>90% of the viral population) changes, including a deletion leading to the removal of 9 amino acids in the
N-terminal domain (from nt 21762 to nt 21788) and 3 nonsynonymous mutations:
A23014C (
E484D amino acid change according to
S-protein-specific numbering),
C23997G (
P812R), and
A24424C
Discussion: Noticeably, an in silico study of
E484D predicted a higher ACE2 binding affinity that could render a more infectious SARS-CoV-2 variant, which is further supported by our ACE2-blocking experiments in which more ACE2 antibody is needed to decrease the infectivity of the adapted virus.