Omicron Breakthrough Infections: Omicron’s Dangerous Ability to Evade and Infect Explained @TomoNewsUS

Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

SEATTLE — Precise structural changes to the omicron variant’s spike protein have been identified that mean it is capable of breakthrough infections which afflict both vaccinated people and those who have previously been infected, according to a new study in the journal Science which looked at the variant’s ability to both evade antibodies that protect against previous variants and still remain highly infectious.

The infectiousness of the variant is in part determined by the 37 mutations in the amino acid sequences of its spike protein that distinguish it from the virus strain discovered in Wuhan.

These mutations have been shown to help the variant evade antibodies generated by the six most commonly used vaccines, and all but one of monoclonal antibodies used to counter infections.

As the mutations also affect the structure of the region of the spike protein responsible for attaching to and entering cells, a tradeoff had been expected where they might simultaneously restrict the variant’s ability to bind to target cells.

The new study used cryo-electron microscopic and X-ray crystallographic studies to get an extremely detailed view of the omicron spike protein and reveal that the proposed tradeoff does not apply to it.

The mutations do indeed change how the protein interacts with antibodies so that the ability of almost all monoclonal antibodies against it is reduced, but, at the same time, the ability of the spike’s receptor-binding domain to bind to human cells at the ACE2 receptor is actually enhanced, so it is able bind to even more tightly.

SOURCES: SciTech Daily, Science journal (BioRxiv pre-print)
scitechdaily.com/changes-in-omicrons-spike-protein-detailed-explains-covid-variants-ability-to-evade-antibodies-and-remain-highly-infectious
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.28.474380v1

Omicron Breakthrough Infections: Omicron’s Dangerous Ability to Evade and Infect Explained

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