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Stevens LJ, Pruijssers AJ, Lee HW, Gordon CJ, Tchesnokov EP, Gribble J, George AS, Hughes TM, Lu X, Li J, Perry JK, Porter DP, Cihlar T, Sheahan TP, Baric RS, Götte M, Denison MR. Mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase confer resistance to remdesivir by distinct mechanisms. Sci Transl Med 2022; 14:eabo0718. [PMID: 35482820 PMCID: PMC9097878 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abo0718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 48.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The nucleoside analog remdesivir (RDV) is a Food and Drug Administration-approved antiviral for treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. Thus, it is critical to understand factors that promote or prevent RDV resistance. We passaged SARS-CoV-2 in the presence of increasing concentrations of GS-441524, the parent nucleoside of RDV. After 13 passages, we isolated three viral lineages with phenotypic resistance as defined by increases in half-maximal effective concentration from 2.7- to 10.4-fold. Sequence analysis identified nonsynonymous mutations in nonstructural protein 12 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (nsp12-RdRp): V166A, N198S, S759A, V792I, and C799F/R. Two lineages encoded the S759A substitution at the RdRp Ser759-Asp-Asp active motif. In one lineage, the V792I substitution emerged first and then combined with S759A. Introduction of S759A and V792I substitutions at homologous nsp12 positions in murine hepatitis virus demonstrated transferability across betacoronaviruses; introduction of these substitutions resulted in up to 38-fold RDV resistance and a replication defect. Biochemical analysis of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp encoding S759A demonstrated a roughly 10-fold decreased preference for RDV-triphosphate (RDV-TP) as a substrate, whereas nsp12-V792I diminished the uridine triphosphate concentration needed to overcome template-dependent inhibition associated with RDV. The in vitro-selected substitutions identified in this study were rare or not detected in the greater than 6 million publicly available nsp12-RdRp consensus sequences in the absence of RDV selection. The results define genetic and biochemical pathways to RDV resistance and emphasize the need for additional studies to define the potential for emergence of these or other RDV resistance mutations in clinical settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura J. Stevens
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Andrea J. Pruijssers
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
- Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Hery W. Lee
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2T9, CA
| | - Calvin J. Gordon
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2T9, CA
| | - Egor P. Tchesnokov
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2T9, CA
| | - Jennifer Gribble
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Amelia S. George
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Tia M. Hughes
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Xiaotao Lu
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Jiani Li
- Gilead Sciences, Inc, Foster City, CA, 94404, USA
| | | | | | - Tomas Cihlar
- Gilead Sciences, Inc, Foster City, CA, 94404, USA
| | - Timothy P. Sheahan
- Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Ralph S. Baric
- Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Matthias Götte
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2T9, CA
| | - Mark R. Denison
- Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
- Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
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