Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 are making it more contagious than ever!

Prama Ghosh, Amity University Kolkata

A study carried out at Houston Methodist Hospital and UT Austin involving around 5000 COVID-19 patients found that genetic mutations are getting accumulated in the causative virus which is making it more contagious. Located in the spike protein, the mutation is called D614G according to the peer-reviewed journal Ambio.  Random genetic changes or a combination of neutral drift is causing the virus to mutate that does not help or hurt the virus — and pressure from our immune systems as said by – Ilya Finkelstein  co-author of the study and an associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin of molecular biosciences.

The initial stage of the pandemic witnessed 71% of the novel coronavirus mutation in patients in Houston while the second wave of the outbreak witnessed 99.9% mutation – a trend observed in other parts of the world also. Previous studies indicated that the variants carrying the D614G mutation became the globally dominant form of SARS-CoV-2 in about a month.  The mutation makes the virus more contagious, increasing its ability to transmit slightly faster than those without it thereby causing a large number of infections. Fortunately, this mutation is uncommon and doesn’t seem to make the disease more serious for tainted patients.

A study shows that spike protein of the virus is also contributing to an unknown mutation. Experiments revealed that at least one such mutation allows the spike to evade a neutralizing antibody that fights against SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans. tested The different genetic variants of the virus’s spike protein, was tested by the  UT Austin team to measure the protein’s stability and its ability to bind to a receptor on host cells and to neutralizing antibodies. This helped to design a 3D map of the coronavirus spike protein that is now being used to develop vaccines.

From a total of 285 mutations discovered so far, most of them don’t appear to have a significant effect on the severity of the disease. Progressing studies are proceeding to keep an eye on the third wave of COVID-19 patients and to portray how the infection is adjusting to killing antibodies produced by our immune system. Each new infection is a move of the dice, an extra opportunity to develop a more dangerous mutation.

Funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and supported by the Fondren Foundation, Houston Methodist Hospital and Research Institute, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Welch Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, this study is the largest peer-reviewed study of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences in the U.S. till date.

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Reference: https://www.eurasiareview.com/01112020-coronavirus-mutation-may-have-made-it-more-contagious/

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