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COVID-19 :
A team of researchers uncovered a mystery and a new gene hidden in the genome of the virus responsible for this pandemic. Identified as ORF3d, had been overlooked in several COVID-19 studies and is an “overlapping gene”, which is what experts call a kind of “gene within a gene” and that for this reason it remains hidden in the nucleotide chain due to the way it overlaps the encoded sequences of other genes.
This was confirmed by the working group led by the bioinformatician Chase Nelson, from the American Museum of Natural History and was published in eLife magazine. “In terms of genome size, SARS-CoV-2 and its parents are among the longest RNA viruses. Therefore, they may be more prone to “genomic tricks” than other similar viruses, “explained Nelson in the post, who insists that these” overlapping genes “are generally common in viruses, although they are difficult to identify.
The specific function of this gene is unknown
The function of this new gene is still unknown, but the researchers are already working on it. However, not having discovered it earlier suggests it is a “key blind spot” in coronavirus knowledge. For him, will continue to study the virus that caused this pandemic and about which so much is known at a very rapid pace, although there is still a long way to go.
“Failure to detect overlapping genes puts us at risk of losing important aspects of the biology of the virus. Overlapping genes may be one of the ways coronaviruses have evolved to replicate efficiently, escape host immunity or be transmitted, ”adds the research scientist who revealed the existence of this new gene and who will continue to study it to discover its specific function.
“We do not yet know its function, nor if it is of clinical importance. But we anticipate that this gene is relatively unlikely to be detected by a T cell response, unlike the antibody response. It might have something to do with where it came from, “Nelson says of this new discovery, which is, no doubt, a very significant advance.
Strong antibody response
Although further study of the gene is needed to understand its function and other characteristics, what is known is that ORF3d causes a strong antibody response in the organisms that have suffered from it. A finding that was obtained thanks to blood tests of patients with coronavirus and which shows which specific action could be harmless or even the opposite.
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