Characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron HK.3 variant harbouring the FLip substitution
Yusuke Kosugi, Arnon Plianchaisuk, Olivia Putri, Keiya Uriu, Yu Kaku, Alfredo A. Hinay, Chen Luo, Jin Kuramochi, Kenji Sadamasu, Kazuhisa Yoshimura, Hiroyuki Asakura, Mami Nagashima, Jumpei Ito, Naoko Misawa, Ziyi Guo, Jarel Elgin Tolentino, Shigeru Fujita, Lin Pan, Mai Suganami, Mika Chiba, Ryo Yoshimura, Kyoko Yasuda, Keiko Iida, Naomi Ohsumi, Adam Strange, Shiho Tanaka, Takasuke Fukuhara, Tomokazu Tamura, Rigel Suzuki, Saori Suzuki, Hayato Ito, Keita Matsuno, Hirofumi Sawa, Naganori Nao, Shinya Tanaka, Masumi Tsuda, Lei Wang, Yoshikata Oda, Zannatul Ferdous, Kenji Shishido, So Nakagawa, Kotaro Shirakawa, Akifumi Takaori‐Kondo, Kayoko Nagata, Ryosuke Nomura, Yoshihito Horisawa, Yusuke Tashiro, Yugo Kawai, Kazuo Takayama, Rina Hashimoto, Sayaka Deguchi, Yukio Watanabe, Ayaka Sakamoto, Naoko Yasuhara, Takao Hashiguchi, Tateki Suzuki, Kanako Kimura, Jiei Sasaki, Yukari Nakajima, Hisano Yajima, Takashi Irie, Ryoko Kawabata, Kaori Tabata, Terumasa Ikeda, Hesham Nasser, Ryo Shimizu, MST Monira Begum, Michael Jonathan, Yuka Mugita, Otowa Takahashi, Kimiko Ichihara, Takamasa Ueno, Chihiro Motozono, Mako Toyoda, Akatsuki Saito, Maya Shofa, Yuki Shibatani, Tomoko Nishiuchi, Kei Sato
Abstract
As of November, 2023, SARS-CoV-2 XBB variants, including EG.5.1 (XBB.1.9.2.5.1), the currently predominant lineage, have been circulating worldwide, according to Nextstrain datasets. The EG.5.1 strain has a characteristic amino acid substitution in the spike protein (S; S:F456L), which allows the strain to escape humoral immunity (appendix p 16).1 EG.5.1 has further evolved, and its descendant lineage harbouring the S:L455F (ie, EG.5.1+S:L455F) variant has emerged and has been named HK.3 (XBB.1.9.2.5.1.1.3).