COVID-19 with three genetic mutations in United States

COVID-19 with three genetic mutations in United States. According to the Live Science website, on January 13th, American researchers announced that two mutant strains of the new coronavirus had been discovered in Ohio. They all appeared to originate in the United States.

According to the Live Science website, on January 13th, American researchers announced that two mutant strains of the new coronavirus had been discovered in Ohio. They all appeared to originate in the United States.

According to Dan Jones, vice chairman of the Department of Molecular Pathology at the Ohio State University Wisner Medical Center, one of the mutant strains is called the “Columbus strain”, which has three genetic mutations, which have not appeared in the previous new coronavirus at the same time.

Researchers discovered the mutant strain in specimens from the end of December 2020 to the beginning of January 2021 in Columbus, Ohio, and it has become one of the major viruses circulating in Columbus. It has the same genetic backbone as the virus in some early cases, and the simultaneous appearance of three mutations represents an important evolutionary direction. This evolutionary direction does not originate from the virus branch reported in the UK or South Africa.

Like other virus variants found around the world, all three mutations occur in the spike protein of the virus. This protein is a key part of the virus to enter the cell and may make the virus more spread.

The researchers found a mutation in the 501Y gene in the second mutant strain, which is the same as the one in the British variant. This mutation affects the receptor binding domain of the virus. It was confirmed in a petri dish experiment that the mutant receptor binding domain binds to the ACE2 receptor of human cells more tightly and has a stronger spread.

Peter Mohler, chief scientific officer of the Wisner Medical Center, said that this mutant strain evolved independently from an existing virus strain in the United States. Only one patient has been found so far, and the prevalence in the population is unknown. But he believes that people should not overreact to new mutant strains until additional data is available. So far, there is no evidence that these mutations will affect the activity of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Behind the two mutant strains, different types of mutations may have occurred independently in multiple regions throughout the world in the past few months, especially the past two months are more significant than previous months. Scientists are constantly tracking the negative consequences of the mutated virus on the spread, including the harm to human health and the impact on the diagnosis and treatment of mutations and diseases.

Reference materials:

1. livescience

New’Columbus strain’ of coronavirus evolved in the US

https://www.livescience.com/us-covid-19-variant-ohio.html

(source:chinanet, reference only)

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