Whole-Genome Sequences of SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.525 Strains (Variant h ) Detected from Patients in the Abruzzo Region (Central Italy) during Spring 2021 Emiliano Delli Compagni, a Iolanda Mangone, a Barbara Bonfini, a Annapia Di Gennaro, a Liana Teodori, a Alessandra Leone, a Claudia Casaccia, a Ottavio Portanti, a Daniela Averaimo, a Katiuscia Zilli, a Daniela Malatesta, a Massimo Ancora, a Silvia Scialabba, a Marco Di Domenico, a Alessio Lorusso a a Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e Molise (IZSAM), Teramo, Italy ABSTRACT Novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants are emerging worldwide. Here, we report the complete genome sequences of 13 severe acute SARS-CoV-2 strains belonging to lineage B.1.525 (variant h ). O n 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the zoonotic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a pandemic (1). SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the genus Betacoronavirus, the subgenus Sarbecovirus included in the subfamily Orthoco- ronavirinae, the family Coronaviridae, and the order Nidovirales. CoVs are enveloped, single-strand, positive-sense RNA viruses, and they are some of the largest RNA viruses known thus far (2). Several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) and variants of inter- est (VOI) are circulating globally (3). Attention should be brought to those mutations occurring in the S protein. This protein permits the binding of SARS-CoV-2 to the ACE-2 receptor and thus is directly involved in the virus-host interaction; it contains a recently described antigenic super- site located in the N-terminal domain (4–6). Therefore, the identification and tracking of mutations through genome sequencing are crucial in order to characterize emerging variants. Here, we report the complete genome sequences of 13 SARS-CoV-2 B.1.525 (variant h , a VOI) strains identified in the Abruzzo region, central Italy. As part of the legislated mandate of the Italian Ministry of Health (protocol 000644-08/01/2021), the sequenc- ing of these strains did not require approval by any ethics committee. In addition, all tasks were conducted in conformity with the Declaration of Helsinki. The earliest B.1.525 sequence dates back to 15 December 2020, according to the GISAID global database of coronavirus genome sequences (https://www.gisaid.org), in the United Kingdom. This variant displays a specific set of mutations, with high biologi- cal relevance, such as D614G and E484K, which may play a key role in replication, anti- body recognition, and vaccine efficacy (7–10). Nasopharyngeal swab specimens were collected in the Abruzzo region between March and May 2021, and they were sent to the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e Molise (IZSAM) for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection prior to genome sequenc- ing (11). The SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis procedure was performed as previously described (12). An aliquot of 200 ml inactivated nasopharyngeal swab transport medium was employed for RNA extraction. Virus inactivation (PrimeStore molecular transport me- dium [MTM]; Longhorn Vaccines and Diagnostics, Bethesda, MD, USA) was carried out in a biosafety level 3 biocontainment lab prior to RNA extraction using a MagMAX CORE kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Detection of viral RNA was per- formed using the TaqMan 2019-nCoV assay kit v2 (Thermo Fisher Scientific). This assay Citation Delli Compagni E, Mangone I, Bonfini B, Di Gennaro A, Teodori L, Leone A, Casaccia C, Portanti O, Averaimo D, Zilli K, Malatesta D, Ancora M, Scialabba S, Di Domenico M, Lorusso A. 2021. Whole-genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.525 strains (variant η) detected from patients in the Abruzzo region (central Italy) during spring 2021. Microbiol Resour Announc 10:e00618-21. https://doi.org/ 10.1128/MRA.00618-21. Editor Simon Roux, DOE Joint Genome Institute Copyright © 2021 Delli Compagni et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Address correspondence to Alessio Lorusso, a.lorusso@izs.it. Received 16 June 2021 Accepted 13 July 2021 Published 5 August 2021 Volume 10 Issue 31 e00618-21 mra.asm.org 1 GENOME SEQUENCES Downloaded from https://journals.asm.org/journal/mra on 09 November 2021 by 3.238.29.207.