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The Delta variant of the coronavirus, discovered in India in October 2020, it quickly became one of the most worrying in the scientific community. Not only has it spread to 96 countries, but it is also dominant in several of them.
But, What makes him so dangerous? Although studies to date indicate that vaccines are effective against this strain, it has been determined that it possesses a set of genetic improvements that facilitate their spread and entry into the human body. In addition, the parameters of vaccination and the greatest care and use of preventive measures increase or decrease the transmission of the variant.
The bioinformatician Tulio de Oliveira, director of the Krisp laboratory at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, presented a report marking the main characteristics of this strain, and commented that “it is more transmissible and more likely to re-infect people who have already become ill with other strains, but there is still no clear evidence whether delta causes more severe disease or s ‘it escapes the protection provided by vaccines. In addition, he listed the three relevant mutations of the delta variant:
The first is that the virus has found a way to invade cells more efficiently. The peak of the virus, known as the S protein, opens the cell and allows the coronavirus to invade. Once inside, it begins to multiply.
The Delta variant shows two mutations in the peak, code names L452R and T478K. These names were born from the type of amino acid that existed, the location, and the new amino acid that replaced it. The changes from R to L at position 452 and from K to T at 478 were “advantageous” for the virus as this allows it to adhere better to the cell. This not only makes it possible to be more efficient in the invasion, but also to tend to increase the viral load, which results in a greater amount of the virus which is spread by sneezing and coughing.
The the second advantage is linked to its activation. Once the human cell is invaded, the virus is triggered when furin, an enzyme in the body, cuts the tip. One part adheres to the cell and the other fuses with its membrane, initiating the production of more viruses. The Delta variant he has one mutation in this behavior, called P681R.
This mutation makes the fusion faster, and this happens not only in the Delta, but also to Alfa, UK, and in some cases Gamma, Brazil.
Indeed, it is estimated that point-furin ratio, was the key to getting the virus from animals to humans. The mechanism of Sars-CoV-2 turns out to be different from other types of coronavirus, leading some scientists to believe that it is a virus mutated in the laboratory to be more effective in humans.
Finally, the Delta variant shows an ability to escape antibodies. Mutations in this strain make it difficult for the defense system to identify it. In fact, there is already some evidence that antibodies to the South African beta variant are not fully effective against Delta. However, there is no evidence that it is able to escape the immune response generated by vaccines.
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