BA.5 now driving the Global Epidemic Wave

According to the data from GISAID, until 25th July, BA.5 was accounted for 52% of the sequence library, making it the dominant strain in a new global outbreak. Some research results showed that BA.5 seems to be the most infectious version of SARS-CoV-2 with the R0 value of 18.6 (about 2.79 in wild type). Furthermore, the strong immune escape ability is also a powerful blessing for BA.5 to quickly become the dominant strain. A report from New York showed that the breakthrough infection capacity of BA.5 should be 4.2 times of BA.1. The latest research shows that BA.5 has also a strong immune escape from the serum of BA.1 infected people, which means that the existing "immune wall" in the population may be ineffective against BA.5.

>> Related Article: Omicron recombinant strains and new variants are frequent, who is the stronger immune escape master?

An "unusual" second-generation variant, BA.2.75, has emerged

While people lamented that BA.5 was the worst variant so far, a new variant, BA.2.75, has emerged in India and spread rapidly to more than a dozen of countries, including the United States, Britain, and Australia. Although it is not clear about its infectivity, hospitalization or the ability of immune escape, experts have raised potential red flags.

Dr. Eric Topol, the founder and director of the Scripps Research Institute in the US said that the BA2.75 variant has eight more mutations as compared to the emerging BA.5 strain, which may result in a stronger immune escape capacity. Tom Peacock, a virologist in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London, tweeted that the Spike protein in BA.2.75 has many mutations. It is notable for its rapid growth and wide geographical distribution. According to another famous virologist Jesse Bloom from Fred Hutch, the sequence analysis of BA.2.75 shows that it contains 17 more nucleotide mutations than the previous generation of BA.2 mutations and contains two key mutations that have significant antigen-converting effects: G446S and Q493R on the Spike protein. Previous studies have shown that G446S is one of the most effective immune escape sites. The introduction of G446S mutation into BA.2 may result in decreased neutralization. On the other hand, Q493R may result from the increased affinity of the virus to the ACE2 receptor.

Although the number of tested samples and sequences is still small, as the first "second-generation variant" to be successfully transmitted to many countries, BA.2.75 still have attracted widespread attention because of the critical mutations and significant growth advantages. Therefore, the most important thing is to monitor and track this variant effectively and to study it as soon as possible. At the same time, more complex genetic changes may occur in the next evolution of the coronavirus.

ACROBiosystems has closely followed the development of COVID-19 pandemic and developed the BA.2.75 antigens and other core reagents at the first time, which are now available in stock. At the same time, to meet the needs of cross-research, products about BA.2.38, BA.2.74, and Ba.2.76 are also developed and can be preordered now.

Product List

Lineage	Molecule	Cat.No.	Tag	Host	Mutation	Preorder/Order
Omicron | BA.2.75	Spike RBD	SPD-C522t	His Tag	HEK293	G339H, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417N, N440K, G446S, N460K, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H	Preorder
Omicron | BA.2.75	Spike protein	SPN-C522f	His Tag	HEK293	T19I, LPP24-26del, A27S, G142D, K147E, W152R, F157L, I210V, V213G, G257S, G339H, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417N, N440K, G446S, N460K, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H, D614G, H655Y, N679K, P681H, N764K, D796Y, Q954H, N969K, R683A, R685A, F817P, A892P, A899P, A942P, K986P, V987P	Order
Omicron | BA.2.75	Spike NTD	SPD-C522x	His Tag	HEK293	T19I, LPP24-26del, A27S, G142D, K147E, W152R, F157L, I210V, V213G, G257S	Preorder
Omicron | BA.2.76	Spike RBD	SPD-C522v	His Tag	HEK293	G339D, R346T, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417N, N440K, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q493R, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H	Preorder
Omicron | BA.2.76	Spike protein	SPN-C522i	His Tag	HEK293	T19I, LPP24-26del, A27S, G142D, V213G, Y248N, G339D, R346T, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417N, N440K, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q493R, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H, D614G, H655Y, N679K, P681H, N764K, D796Y, Q954H, N969K, R683A, R685A, F817P, A892P, A899P, A942P, K986P, V987P	Preorder
Omicron | BA.2.74	Spike RBD	SPD-C522u	His Tag	HEK293	G339D, R346T, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417N, N440K, L452M, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q493R, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H	Preorder
Omicron | BA.2.74	Spike protein	SPN-C522h	His Tag	HEK293	T19I, LPP24-26del, A27S, G142D, V213G, G339D, R346T, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417N, N440K, L452M, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q493R, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H, D614G, H655Y, N679K, P681H, N764K, D796Y, Q954H, N969K, R683A, R685A, F817P, A892P, A899P, A942P, K986P, V987P	Preorder
Omicron | BA.2.38	Spike RBD	SPD-C522w	His Tag	HEK293	G339D, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417T, N440K, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q493R, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H	Preorder
Omicron | BA.2.38	Spike protein	SPN-C522g	His Tag	HEK293	T19I, LPP24-26del, A27S, G142D, V213G, G339D, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417T, N440K, S477N, T478K, E484A, Q493R, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H, D614G, H655Y, N679K, P681H, N764K, D796Y, Q954H, N969K, R683A, R685A, F817P, A892P, A899P, A942P, K986P, V987P	Preorder
Omicron | BA.5	Spike protein	SPN-C522e	His Tag	HEK293	T19I, LPP24-26del, A27S, HV69-70del, G142D, V213G, G339D, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417N, N440K, L452R, S477N, T478K, E484A, F486V, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H, D614G, H655Y, N679K, P681H, N764K, D796Y, Q954H, N969K, R683A, R685A, F817P, A892P, A899P, A942P, K986P, V987P	Order
Omicron | BA.5	Spike protein	SPN-C82Eu	His Tag & Avi Tag	HEK293	T19I, LPP24-26del, A27S, HV69-70del, G142D, V213G, G339D, S371F, S373P, S375F, T376A, D405N, R408S, K417N, N440K, L452R, S477N, T478K, E484A, F486V, Q498R, N501Y, Y505H, D614G, H655Y, N679K, P681H, N764K, D796Y, Q954H, N969K, R683A, R685A, F817P, A892P, A899P, A942P, K986P, V987P	Order
Omicron | BA.5	Nucleocapsid protein	NUN-C52Hx	His Tag	HEK293	P13L, ERS31-33del, E136D, R203K, G204R, S413R	Order

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Assay data

Purity

The purity of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Trimer, His Tag (BA.2.75/Omicron) (Cat. No. SPN-C522f) is more than 90% verified by SEC-MALS. The molecular weight of this protein is around 496-548 kDa.

Protocol

Bioactivity

Measured by its binding ability in a functional ELISA. Immobilized SARS-CoV-2 Spike Trimer, His Tag (BA.2.75/Omicron) (Cat. No. SPN-C522f) at 1 μg/mL (100 μL/well) can bind Human ACE2, Fc Tag (Cat. No. AC2-H5257) with a linear range of 0.2-16 ng/mL (QC tested).

Protocol

SARS-CoV-2 Spike Trimer, His Tag (BA.2.75/Omicron) (Cat. No. SPN-C522f) at 1 μg/mL (100 μL/well) can bind Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD Broadly Neutralizing Antibody, Human IgG1 (Cat. No. SPD-M265) with a linear range of 0.1-2 ng/mL (Routinely tested).

Protocol