Slack / Private Message Drop — page 318

[2020-12-15 23:48:57] [Kristian Andersen] Andrew any neut data on that UK lineage? I wouldn't be surprised if this thing is highly resistant. Would also be interesting to map epitopes from people infected with this lineage vs earlier lineages. A lot of concern at the state/county level about these reports, so please keep us posted. [2020-12-15 23:55:07] [Andrew Rambaut] Obviously a massive effort to look at this with Wendy Barclay leading it. Also to pull out reinfections. [2020-12-15 23:58:33] [Andrew Rambaut] The interesting thing is the new lineage has started to take off in South Wales (who have an amazing surveillance and sequencing team). South Wales already has (a growing) lineage of N501Y so it will be interesting to see how the new lineage competes. [2020-12-15 23:59:57] [Andrew Rambaut] Also it seems curious how N501Y has suddenly come up 3 times independently this Autumn (the other one being in South Africa). [2020-12-16 04:12:25] [Robert Garry] If the change in the FCS makes it somehow better able to infect the upper airways this could impact spread. Might be reflected in lower Ct values in nasal swabs. [2020-12-16 04:33:55] [Robert Garry] Doug's (D614G) daughter Nancy (N501Y) is certainly interesting - the deletion in the NTD along with the change near/in the RBD plus the rare FCS mutation are very likely driving some phenotype. [2020-12-16 04:41:19] [Andrew Rambaut] Yes - I am really convinced it is spreading because of these mutations not despite. And I am usually very cautious. I am keeping my eye on a lineage with N501Y and none of the other mutations that is also spreading in the UK. [2020-12-16 06:57:12] [Andrew Rambaut] We are calling it Nelly [2020-12-16 06:57:48] [Andrew Rambaut] [thread - ID: 2020-12-16 06:57:48] @Robert Garry What would your thoughts about V701A be? [2020-12-16 06:57:48] [Robert Garry] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6511/1603.full [2020-12-16 06:58:37] [Andrew Rambaut] Yes! We briefly considered whether it had emerged from the rat infested sewers of London Town. [2020-12-16 07:00:53] [Andrew Rambaut]