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None of the mutations seen in the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 appear to increase the transmissibility of the virus, according to a new study.
The study by researchers at University College London published Wednesday in Nature communications analyzed a global dataset of the virus genomes of more than 46,000 people with COVID-19 from 99 countries.
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Researchers have so far identified more than 12,700 mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 mutate all the time and most are neutral. But some can be beneficial or harmful to the virus, with potentially troublesome consequences, such as making the virus more contagious and a vaccine less effective.
But so far, researchers say they have yet to find evidence that common mutations increase the transmissibility of the virus.
“We realized early on in the pandemic that we needed new approaches to analyze huge amounts of data in near real time in order to signal new mutations in the virus that could affect its transmission or the severity of its symptoms.” Lucy van Dorp, a professor at University College London’s Institute of Genetics and one of the study’s lead researchers, said in a declaration.
“Fortunately, we have found that none of these mutations allow COVID-19 to spread faster, but we must remain vigilant and continue to monitor new mutations, especially as vaccines are deployed,” he said. she declared.
The researchers found that most mutations in the virus resulted from the response of the human immune system, rather than the result of the virus adapting to its human host.
During the pandemic, a mutation in the virus spike protein called D614G was reported to be a mutation that could make the virus more contagious than earlier strains that emerged from Wuhan, China.
The study published Wednesday found that the mutation is not actually associated with a larger increase in transmission.
François Balloux, a UCL professor who worked on the research, said the virus posed no threat to the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine at this time, but warned that the introduction of vaccines could exert new selective pressures on the virus to mutate to escape recognition by the human immune system. system.
“The news on the vaccine front is great. The virus could very well acquire mutations to escape the vaccine in the future, but we are confident that we will be able to report them quickly, which would allow vaccines to be updated in time if necessary ”, Balloux said.
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