Recent progress on the mutations of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and suggestions for prevention and controlling of the pandemic

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has caused a global pandemic in the past year, which poses continuing threat to human beings. To date, more than 3561 mutations in the viral spike protein were identified, including 2434 mutations that cause amino acid changes with 343 amino acids located in the viral receptor-binding domain (RBD). Among these mutations, the most representative ones are substitution mutations such as D614G, N501Y, Y453F, N439K/R, P681H, K417N/T, and E484K, and deletion mutations of ΔH69/V70 and Δ242–244, which confer the virus with enhanced infectivity, transmissibility, and resistance to neutralization. In this review, we discussed the recent findings of SARS-CoV-2 for highlighting mutations and variants on virus transmissibility and pathogenicity. Moreover, several suggestions for prevention and controlling the pandemic are also proposed