Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 clinical isolates

Ryuta Uraki; Shun Iida; Peter J Halfmann; Seiya Yamayoshi; Yuichiro Hirata; Kiyoko Iwatsuki-Horimoto; Maki Kiso; Mutsumi Ito; Yuri Furusawa; Hiroshi Ueki; Yuko Sakai-Tagawa; Makoto Kuroda; Tadashi Maemura; Taksoo Kim; Sohtaro Mine; Noriko Iwamoto; Rong Li; Yanan Liu; Deanna Larson; Shuetsu Fukushi; Shinji Watanabe; Ken Maeda; Zhongde Wang; Norio Ohmagari; James Theiler; Will Fischer; Bette Korber; Masaki Imai; Tadaki Suzuki; Yoshihiro Kawaoka

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-37059-x

Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 clinical isolates

Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 23;14(1):1620. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37059-x.

Authors

Ryuta Uraki^#^{1

2}, Shun Iida^#³, Peter J Halfmann^#⁴, Seiya Yamayoshi^#^{1

2}, Yuichiro Hirata³, Kiyoko Iwatsuki-Horimoto¹, Maki Kiso¹, Mutsumi Ito¹, Yuri Furusawa^{1

2}, Hiroshi Ueki^{1

2}, Yuko Sakai-Tagawa¹, Makoto Kuroda⁴, Tadashi Maemura⁴, Taksoo Kim⁴, Sohtaro Mine³, Noriko Iwamoto⁵, Rong Li⁶, Yanan Liu⁶, Deanna Larson⁶, Shuetsu Fukushi⁷, Shinji Watanabe⁸, Ken Maeda⁹, Zhongde Wang⁶, Norio Ohmagari⁵, James Theiler¹⁰, Will Fischer^{11

12}, Bette Korber^{13

14}, Masaki Imai^{15

16}, Tadaki Suzuki¹⁷, Yoshihiro Kawaoka^{18

19

20

21}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Virology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan.
² The Research Center for Global Viral Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Research Institute, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan.
³ Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, 162-8640, Japan.
⁴ Influenza Research Institute, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53711, USA.
⁵ Disease Control and Prevention Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Hospital, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan.
⁶ Department of Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322, USA.
⁷ Department of Virology 1, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashimurayama, Tokyo, 208-0011, Japan.
⁸ Center for Influenza and Respiratory Virus Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashimurayama, Tokyo, 208-0011, Japan.
⁹ Department of Veterinary Science, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, 162-8640, Japan.
¹⁰ Space Data Science and Systems, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA.
¹¹ Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA.
¹² New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA.
¹³ Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA. btk@lanl.gov.
¹⁴ New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA. btk@lanl.gov.
¹⁵ Division of Virology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan. mimai@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
¹⁶ The Research Center for Global Viral Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Research Institute, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan. mimai@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
¹⁷ Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, 162-8640, Japan. tksuzuki@niid.go.jp.
¹⁸ Division of Virology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan. yoshihiro.kawaoka@wisc.edu.
¹⁹ The Research Center for Global Viral Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Research Institute, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan. yoshihiro.kawaoka@wisc.edu.
²⁰ Influenza Research Institute, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53711, USA. yoshihiro.kawaoka@wisc.edu.
²¹ The University of Tokyo, Pandemic Preparedness, Infection and Advanced Research Center, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan. yoshihiro.kawaoka@wisc.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The prevalence of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.75 rapidly increased in India and Nepal during the summer of 2022, and spread globally. However, the virological features of BA.2.75 are largely unknown. Here, we evaluated the replicative ability and pathogenicity of BA.2.75 clinical isolates in Syrian hamsters. Although we found no substantial differences in weight change among hamsters infected with BA.2, BA.5, or BA.2.75, the replicative ability of BA.2.75 in the lungs is higher than that of BA.2 and BA.5. Of note, BA.2.75 causes focal viral pneumonia in hamsters, characterized by patchy inflammation interspersed in alveolar regions, which is not observed in BA.5-infected hamsters. Moreover, in competition assays, BA.2.75 replicates better than BA.5 in the lungs of hamsters. These results suggest that BA.2.75 can cause more severe respiratory disease than BA.5 and BA.2 in a hamster model and should be closely monitored.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Assay
COVID-19*
Cricetinae
DNA Replication
India
Mesocricetus
SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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