Publications by authors named "William M Meyers"
Coronaviruses (CoVs) maintain large RNA genomes that frequently undergoes mutations and recombination, contributing to their evolution and emergence. In this study, we find that SARS-CoV-2 has greater RNA recombination frequency than other human CoVs. In addition, coronavirus RNA recombination primarily occurs at uridine (U)-enriched RNA sequences.
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- SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants show over 30 new amino acid mutations, particularly in the spike protein, with three specific mutations in a less-studied region (CTS1) being the focus of this research.
- The study created a triple mutant (YKH) that increased spike protein processing and a single N679K mutant, which resulted in lower viral replication and less disease severity.
- Despite being a loss-of-function mutation, N679K showed enhanced replication in the upper airway compared to wild-type virus in hamsters, suggesting it may affect the virus's transmissibility.