Fabrizia Valleriani, Chiara Di Pancrazio, Massimo Spedicato, Giovanni Di Teodoro, Daniela Malatesta, Tetyana Petrova, Francesca Profeta, Maria Loredana Colaianni, Shadia Berjaoui, Ilaria Puglia, Marialuigia Caporale, Emanuela Rossi, Maurilia Marcacci, Mirella Luciani, Flavio Sacchini, Ottavio Portanti, Francesco Bencivenga, Nicola Decaro, Francesco Bonfante, Alessio Lorusso
Here we investigated the virulence properties of a unique cell-adapted SARS-CoV-2 mutant showing a ten-amino acid deletion encompassing the furin cleavage site of the spike protein (Δ680 SPRAARSVAS689 ; Δ680-689-B.1) in comparison to its parental strain (wt-B.1) and two Delta variants (AY.122 and AY.21) of concern. After intranasal inoculation, transgenic K18-hACE2 mice were monitored for 14 days for weight change, lethality, and clinical score; oral swabs were daily collected and tested for the presence of N protein subgenomic RNA...
January 28, 2024: Virology