Experimental infection of hamsters with wild-type and nsp14-P203L SARS-CoV-2

To characterize the P203L nsp14 mutation of SARS-CoV-2 in vivo, we generated a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 virus possessing P203L nsp14 mutation. The nsp14-P203L SARS-CoV-2 mutant grew as efficiently as the wild-type virus in hamster lungs, and by six days after infection, the nsp14-P203L mutant grown in the lungs of hamsters had acquired significantly more diverse genomic mutations than the wild-type virus.