What do studies on new coronavirus mutations tell us?
Published: 05:05 PM,May 07,2020 | EDITED : 07:04 PM,Apr 29,2024
LONDON: A series of studies of the genomes of thousands of samples of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 show that it is mutating and evolving as it adapts to its human hosts.
Here’s what experts are saying about those findings and how they might affect the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to develop vaccines and treatments.
WHAT HAVE THE STUDIES FOUND?
* Using a database called the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States tracked genetic changes, or mutations, in the “spike” of the new coronavirus - the part that gives it its distinctive shape.
Their preliminary research found 14 such mutations. The researchers said one, called D614G, was “of urgent concern” because it appeared to be emerging as dominant and may make the disease more infectious.
- Using the same GISAID database, a team at University College London in Britain screened the genomes of more than 7,500 viruses from infected patients around the world.
- Another study by scientists at Britain’s Glasgow University, which also analysed mutations in the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 virus samples, found that these changes did not signal that there are different strains.