[ad_1]
None of the more than 12,000 mutations of the Covid-19 virus seem to give it greater contagiousness, a study published in. Even the infamous D614G, which emerged in Europe in the summer of 2020 and has since dominated the continent, is no more effective than the others in spreading.
Three mutation mechanisms in RNA viruses
There are three mechanisms that allow RNA viruses, including coronaviruses, to mutate. First, it copies errors when the virus multiplies its genetic material in the host cell. However, this first mechanism generates small mutations in SARS-CoV-2, a Covid-19 virus, because it has a correction protein. For this, for example. Second, two different viruses infecting the same cell at the same time could “mix” their RNAs. Finally, our cells’ internal immune defense systems can also contribute to the RNA editing of the virus. The resulting mutations can be harmful to the virus, in which case they are eliminated quickly, or beneficial, making them susceptible to spread or, more often than not, neutral.
185 mutations appeared recurrently
At CIRAD on Reunion Island, as well as researchers from London and the University of Oxford, scientists identified all global virus genome data from 46,723 people with Covid-19, collected up to “at the end of July 2020. . It produced 12,706 mutations, of which 398 repeated independently of each other. In other words, these multiple cases of the same mutation did not come from a single mutated virus that had spread geographically, but had been selected multiple times on several occasions. Since the virus is constantly mutating, the mutations that are selected multiple times are actually the most likely to be the most beneficial for its transmission.[…]
More information on sciencesetavenir.fr
Read also
Source link
