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[Preprint]. 2024 Nov 22:2024.11.21.24317689.
doi: 10.1101/2024.11.21.24317689.

Central role of glycosylation processes in human genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections with Omicron variants

Frank Geller  1   2 , Xiaoping Wu  1   2 , Vilma Lammi  3 , Erik Abner  4 , Jesse Tyler Valliere  5   6 , Katerina Nastou  1 , Morten Rasmussen  7 , Niklas Worm Andersson  1 , Liam Quinn  8 ; DBDS Genomic Consortium; Bitten Aagaard  9 , Karina Banasik  10   11 , Sofie Bliddal  10   12 , Lasse Boding  13 , Søren Brunak  11 , Nanna Brøns  2 , Jonas Bybjerg-Grauholm  14 , Lea Arregui Nordahl Christoffersen  8   15 , Maria Didriksen  2   16 , Khoa Manh Dinh  2   17 , Christian Erikstrup  17   18 , Ulla Feldt-Rasmussen  12 , Kirsten Grønbæk  19   20   21 , Kathrine Agergård Kaspersen  17 , Christina Mikkelsen  2   22 , Claus Henrik Nielsen  23 , Henriette Svarre Nielsen  10 , Susanne Dam Nielsen  24 , Janna Nissen  2 , Celia Burgos Sequeros  11 , Niels Tommerup  25 , Henrik Ullum  26 ; Estonian Biobank Research Team; FinnGen  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29 , Lampros Spiliopoulos  1 , Peter Bager  1 , Anders Hviid  1   27 , Erik Sørensen  2 , Ole Birger Pedersen  21   8 , Jacqueline M Lane  5   6 , Ria Lassaunière  7 , Hanna M Ollila  3   28 , Sisse Rye Ostrowski  2   21 , Bjarke Feenstra  1   2   29
Affiliations

Central role of glycosylation processes in human genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections with Omicron variants

Frank Geller et al. medRxiv. .

Update in

  • Central role of glycosylation processes in human genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections with Omicron variants.
    Geller F, Wu X, Lammi V, Abner E, Valliere JT, Nastou K, Burns A, Rasmussen M, Andersson NW, Quinn L; DBDS Genomic Consortium; Aagaard B, Banasik K, Bliddal S, Boding L, Brunak S, Brøns N, Bybjerg-Grauholm J, Christoffersen LAN, Didriksen M, Dinh KM, Erikstrup C, Feldt-Rasmussen U, Grønbæk K, Kaspersen KA, Mikkelsen C, Nielsen CH, Nielsen HS, Nielsen SD, Nissen J, Sequeros CB, Tommerup N, Ullum H; Estonian Biobank Research Team; FinnGen; Spiliopoulos L, Bager P, Hviid A, Sørensen E, Pedersen OB, Lane JM, Lassaunière R, Ollila HM, Ostrowski SR, Feenstra B. Geller F, et al. Nat Genet. 2026 Feb;58(2):299-306. doi: 10.1038/s41588-025-02484-9. Epub 2026 Jan 22. Nat Genet. 2026. PMID: 41571831 Free PMC article.
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

S.Brunak has ownerships in Intomics A/S, Hoba Therapeutics Aps, Novo Nordisk A/S, Lundbeck A/S, ALK abello A/S, Eli Lilly and Co and managing board memberships in Proscion A/S and Intomics A/S. C.E. has received unrestricted research grants from Novo Nordisk administered by Aarhus University and Abbott Diagnostics administered by Aarhus University Hospital. C.E. received no personal fees. K.G. received a Janssen Pharma research grant and is on the advisory board of Otsuka Pharma. L.B. currently works for MSD Denmark. All other authors report no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Manhattan plot for GWAS of Omicron infection vs. no known infection
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
STRING networks a) STRING network for 13 genes linked to the GWAS lead SNPs. Proteins involved in the Termination of O-glycan biosynthesis pathway are colored in light green, while proteins involved in Glycosphingolipid biosynthesis – lacto and neolacto series are colored in light blue. The two sets of proteins form a connected component with ST6GAL1 and FUT3 acting as the main bridges. The edge width is indicative of the confidence score for each association, with thicker edges denoting higher confidence scores. Physical protein associations are denoted with dotted lines. b) STRING network expanded with 15 additional interactors using a selectivity parameter of 1.0. Four interactors are removed because the corresponding genes were located in genomic loci already covered (FUT5, FUT6, MUC22, MUC3A). Additional proteins that belong to the Termination of O-glycan biosynthesis pathway are shown in dark green and additional proteins that belong to the Glycosphingolipid biosynthesis – lacto and neolacto series pathway are shown in dark blue. The addition of the extra proteins leads to a heavily interconnected network and for this reason we have selected a special coloring scheme to distinguish between the different edges in the network. Solid lines represent associations between the 13 original genes and dashed lines represent associations from the 11 additional genes. Green edges show associations between the genes involved in Termination of O-glycan biosynthesis pathway, blue edges show associations between the genes involved in Glycosphingolipid biosynthesis - lacto and neolacto series pathway and orange lines represent other associations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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