Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 variants with multiple amino acid mutations in the spike protein are emerging in different parts of the world, raising concerns regarding their possible impact on human immune response and vaccine efficacy against the virus. Recently, a variant named lineage B.1.1.7 was detected and shown to be rapidly spreading across the UK since November 2020. As surveillance for these SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) becomes critical, we have investigated the use of environmental surveillance (ES) for the rapid detection and quantification of B.1.1.7 viruses in sewage as a way of monitoring its expansion that is independent on the investigation of identified clinical cases. Next-generation sequencing analysis of amplicons synthesized from sewage concentrates revealed the presence of B.1.1.7 mutations in viral sequences, first identified in a sample collected in London on 10 November 2020 and shown to rapidly increase in frequency to >95% in January 2021, in agreement with clinical data over the same period. We show that ES can provide an early warning of VOCs becoming prevalent in the population and that, as well as B.1.1.7, our method can detect VOCs B.1.351 and P.1, first identified in South Africa and Brazil, respectively, and other viruses carrying critical spike mutation E484K, known to have an effect on virus antigenicity. Although we did not detect such mutation in viral RNAs from sewage, we did detect mutations at amino acids 478, 490, and 494, located close to amino acid 484 in the spike protein structure and known to also have an effect on antigenicity.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e00353-21 |
Journal | mSystems |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15 Jun 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information: This study is based on independent research commissioned and funded by the NIHR Policy Research Program (NIBSC Regulatory Science Research Unit). The views expressed in the publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health, “arms” length bodies, or other government departments.Open Access: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Publisher Copyright: © Crown copyright 2021
Citation: Wilton T, Bujaki E, Klapsa D, Majumdar M, Zambon M, Fritzsche M, Mate R, Martin J. 2021. Rapid increase of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 detected in sewage samples from England between October 2020 and January 2021. mSystems 6:e00353-21.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00353-21.
Keywords
- B.1.1.7
- COVID-19
- Direct detection
- Environmental surveillance
- Next-generation sequencing
- SARS-CoV-2
- Sewage
- Surveillance
- Vaccine
- Variant B.1.1.7
- Variant of concern
- Wastewater