Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, KIZ-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Bioresources and Molecular Research in Common Diseases, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China
2.
Kunming National High-level Biosafety Research Center for Non-Human Primates, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650107, China
3.
National Resource Center for Non-Human Primates, National Research Facility for Phenotypic & Genetic Analysis of Model Animals (Primate Facility), Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650107, China
Funds:
This work was supported by start-up funding from the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences to J.X.Z.
Although it first appeared almost two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an impact on a global scale, in part due to newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants such as Delta and Lambda. The B.1.621 variant, first identified in Colombia in January 2021, was classified as a variant of interest (VOI) and designated as Mu by the World Health Organization (WHO) in August 2021. However, its infectivity and resistance to neutralizing antibodies remain largely unknown. Here, in comparison to Delta, the Mu variant showed an unexpectedly enhanced immune resistance to inactivated vaccine-elicited antibodies. Nevertheless, Mu demonstrated less infectivity than Delta, implying a biological trade-off between viral transmission and immune escape. This study strongly calls for urgent evaluation of the protective efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines against the Mu variant.
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