Detection of the Omicron variant of SARS- CoV-2 by restriction analysis targeting the mutations K417N and N440K of the spike protein.

Detección de la Variante Ómicron del SARS-CoV-2 por análisis de restricción de dos mutaciones de la proteína de la espiga.

• Rossana C. Jaspe Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4816-1378
• José Luis Zambrano Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9884-2940
• Mariana Hidalgo Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8307-8254
• Yoneira Sulbarán Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3170-353X
• Carmen L. Loureiro Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3665-1107
• Zoila C. Moros Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6322-9230
• Domingo J. Garzaro Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9956-5786
• Ferdinando Liprandi Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8084-8252
• Héctor R. Rangel Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5937-9690
• Flor H. Pujol Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela. https://orcid,org/0000-0001-6086-6883

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54817/IC.v63n1a08

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Omicron Variant of Concern, RFLP, rapid screening

Abstract

By the end of 2021, the Omicron variant of concern (VOC) emerges in South Africa. This variant caused immediate concern, due to the explosive increase in cases associated with it and the large number of mutations it exhibits. In this study, the restriction sites that allow detecting the mutations K417N and N440K in the Spike gene are described. This analysis allows us to propose a rapid method for the identification of cases infected with the Omicron variant. We show that the proposed methodology can contribute to provide more information on the prevalence and rapid detection of cases of this new VOC.

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