SARS-CoV-2 spike protein gene variants with N501T and G142D mutation dominated infections in minks in the US

Large number of minks were infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus containing the spike protein Y453F mutation in Europe, causing zoonosis concerns. To evaluate the genetic characteristics of the US and Canadian mink-derived SARS-CoV-2 sequences, we analyzed all animal-derived (977), all Canadian (19,529) and US (173,277) SARS-CoV-2 sequences deposited in GISAID from December 2019 to March 12, 2021, and identified 2 dominant novel variants, the N501T-G142D variant and N501T-G142D-F486L variant, in the US mink-derived SARS-CoV-2 sequences. These variants were not found in minks from Canada or other countries. The Y453F mutation was not identified in the mink-derive sequences in the US and Canada. The N501T mutation occurred two months earlier in the human than in the minks in the US, and the novel N501T-G142D variant and N501T-G142D-F486L variant were found in human prior to minks. The result of this study indicates that the novel variants may have evolved during human infection and then transmitted to mink populations in the US.