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News of a new variant of coronavirus identified in Britain grabbed the headlines this week, raising concerns that the virus is mutating in ways that could possibly make it more infectious.
In a speech to the House of Commons on Monday, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the new variant has been identified in more than 1,000 confirmed coronavirus infections in the south-east of England, where the cases are on the rise. Hancock said the initial analysis suggests this variant may be more transmissible than other existing variants, and that it could potentially explain what is behind the current outbreak in that part of the country. However, these two things remain unclear and more studies are needed to understand the significance of this new mutation.
A number of new strains of coronavirus have already been identified since the start of the pandemic.
“The very first [COVID-19] the viruses that appeared almost a year ago are not the viruses that really circulate in almost every country. There are different variations that have taken root, ”said Dr. Neville Sanjana, geneticist at the New York Genome Center and New York University.
The word “mutation” conjures up the fear that the virus will turn into something more dangerous, but mutations are a natural process in a virus’s life cycle.
“They move and change during their stay with the hosts; they don’t stay the same… it’s part of the kind of molecular arms race between viruses and their hosts, ”Sanjana added.
These changes, however, are not always significant or harmful. Viruses can also become less fatal over time due to mutations.
Sanjana says most of the coronavirus variants that have been identified so far have either had no detectable effect on the biology of the virus or have led to more severe COVID-19 illness.
There is one exception, a mutation in the virus that occurred at the start of the pandemic, which Sanjana studied in her lab. The mutation, known as D614G or variant G, made a difference, he says. This happened on the spike protein, the sharp structure that gives the coronavirus its crown-shaped profile and the key that allows it to enter human cells. Although there is no evidence to indicate that the D614G mutation causes more severe symptoms or death, research suggests that it allows the virus to infect cells more easily and to spread more easily from person to person. other. Some scientists believe this variant, which was first spotted in eastern China in January and then quickly spread across Europe and New York, has made the pandemic harder to stop.
The new variant of the coronavirus that UK officials warned of this week has raised concerns as mutations found in the variant also affect the spike protein, which is the target of many leading vaccines currently being deployed and in development.
This particular detail raises an important question: Could it potentially reduce the effectiveness of vaccines?
Hancock says there is currently no evidence to suggest that the new variant of coronavirus is more dangerous and that it is “highly unlikely” that the new mutation will affect the effectiveness of vaccines.
Sanjana agreed.
“I think there really isn’t too much to worry about, as it’s important to realize that these mRNAs [messenger RNA] vaccines don’t actually use a small piece of spike. They actually encode the entire spike protein, in the form of RNA, which gives your immune system plenty of shots on goal. There is a good chance that it will develop a diverse antibody repertoire. It is therefore very unlikely that a single mutation in the virus could affect antibody responses, ”he said.
It is too early to say what the potential impacts of this particular variant are. Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust biomedical research foundation in London, said in a statement Monday that it could be “potentially serious” and that because there is a lot we do not yet know about the COVID-19 surveillance and research must continue to stay one step ahead of the virus. “There is no room for complacency. We must remain humble and be prepared to adapt and take on new and persistent challenges as we enter 2021, ”he said.
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