Fig. 4: The spike N501Y substitution spread quickly and increases spike protein binding affinity for the human ACE2 receptor.
From: The N501Y spike substitution enhances SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission
a, The frequency of the N501Y substitution over time in all genomic SARS-CoV-2 sequences available from the GISAID database worldwide up to May 2021. The blue bars represent the total numbers of SARS-CoV-2 genomes sequenced worldwide. The red line indicates the percentage of N501Y variant in total SARS-CoV-2 genomes. b, The predicted binding site of spike N501 and Y501 residues on the human ACE2 receptor. c, d, Binding affinities of wild-type spike (c) and spike(N501Y) (d) to the human ACE2 receptor. KD, dissociation constant; koff, dissociation rate constant; kon, association rate constant. The affinity of ACE2 to the N501Y mutant RBD is below the detection limit and is plotted as <10−12. Data are derived from a single experiment.
