Mutational differences between important SARS-CoV-2 lineages within the antibody binding regions of the spike protein. Shown is NTD (defined here as amino acid 1-300) and RBD (301-600) separate and together. 1/4
This rainbow-painted spike (blue to red) shows the N-terminal domain in shades of blue followed by RBD in shades of green for comparison. 2/4
Mutation space differences must not be confused with immunological distance, but do hint towards vaccine efficiency. The upcoming lineages BA.2.75.2 and BJ.1 are 33/36 mutations away from WT, 31/28 from BA.1, and 13/17 from BA.5. 3/4
BJ.1 of course sets a new record in mutations. BTW: For deletions I counted every deleted position separate, T95I was included in Delta. Since I did this analysis manually, I cannot exclude mistakes, please let me know if you spot one. 4/4
