Background information
SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Since that time the virus kept mutating, leading to new virus variants. The B.1.351 lineage, also known as Beta variant, variant 501Y.V2 or VOC-202012/02, is a SARS-CoV-2 variant that was first discovered in South Africa, October 2020. The mutations of this variant affect also immune relevant parts of structural SARS-CoV-2 proteins and the respective sequences are available in GISAID, a genome data base. The mutations listed below are taken from EPI_ISL_861709. The B.1.351 lineage (Beta variant) has been found to be more infectious than former variants and has become quickly the dominant strain in South Africa.
In total there are 10 mutations in surface or spike glycoprotein (“S”) of the B.1.351 lineage (Beta variant) compared to the Wuhan variant (reference genome GenBank MN908947.3): D80A, D215G, 242 deletion, 243 deletion, 244 deletion, K417N, E484K, N501Y, D614G, A701V.
PepTivator
® SARS-CoV-2 Prot_S Prot_S B.1.351 Mutation Pool covers selectively the mutated regions. It consists of 30 peptides of 15 aa length. The PepTivator SARS-CoV-2 Prot_S B.1.351 Mutation Pool can be used to supplement PepTivators covering the sequence of the wild-type spike glycoprotein (“S”) in order to detect immune responses towards both variants, Wuhan (wild-type) variant and B.1.351 lineage (Beta variant). PepTivator Peptide pools spanning the sequence of the spike glycoprotein (“S”) of the Wuhan (wild-type) variant are PepTivator SARS-CoV-2 Prot_S (predicted immunodominant sequence domains), SARS-CoV-2 Prot_S1 (N-terminal S1 domain) and SARS-CoV-2 Prot_S+ (part of the C-terminal S2 domain).
PepTivator SARS-CoV-2 Prot_S B.1.351 WT Reference Pool consists of the 30 homologous peptides of the Wuhan sequence and covers D80, D215, L242, A243, L244, K417, E484, N501, D614, A701 of the Wuhan variant (reference genome GenBank MN908947.3). PepTivator SARS-CoV-2 Prot_S B.1.351 WT Reference Pool serves as a control for the PepTivator SARS-CoV-2 Prot_S B.1.351 Mutation Pool. Comparison of the T cell immune response upon stimulation with mutation and reference pool can be used to analyze mutation-specific T cell responses.
