Does the coronavirus stop the mutation?Experts explain how Omicron and other variants emerge

“Mutations happen essentially by accident,” said Dr. Daniel Rhodes, chief of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic. “The analogy is that if you type a note and make a mistake in the keystroke, the word is misspelled.”

It can spoil what you write, but he said, “Sometimes you will come across a typo that is actually beneficial. That’s one of the things that happens to the virus. Sometimes these mistakes. It turns out that one of them is actually an advantage, “helps the virus spread more easily.

This is the case for the Delta variant, which was first identified in India in late 2020 and now accounts for nearly 100% of COVID-19 cases in the United States. But the mutation process didn’t stop there. Last week, scientists issued a warning about Omicron, which was labeled by the World Health Organization as a “variant of concern.”

“Because it’s the biology of RNA viruses, mutations never stop,” Rhoads said, saying that many mutations may not significantly affect the behavior of the virus.

Lacaniello said the process of mutation and the increase in mutations that benefit the virus are the same. Evolutionary process It happens at a microscopic level, but people may remember it from school.

“The virus mutates because it’s the way evolution happens,” he said.

Will the pace of mutation slow down?

Rhoads said in an email: “Most other respiratory viruses, including the common coronavirus, are genetically fairly stable. My hypothesis is that this stability will eventually be achieved with SARS-CoV-2 as well. However, the length of time to achieve this stability is unknown. “

Racaniello said: Just keep going. He pointed out the flu virus. The influenza virus continues to mutate and requires vaccination every year.

At the same time, he said people felt they shouldn’t panic about the news of Omicron and other villains.

Scientists have warned about the vast number of mutations found in the genome of the Omicron variant. Trevor Bedford, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and a recent winner of McArthur’s “Genius Grant,” said the virus invaded cells at a virtual event on Tuesday. It is a “kind of wild” that states the number of mutations in the peaplomer that allows for.

“Therefore, other things in circulation (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, etc.) have probably 8 mutations, probably 10 mutations in pesplomers, which mainly give them a favorable phenotype. So Omicron … it’s out of nowhere, probably coming out of an immunocompromised person, and 30 mutations appear in the peplomer, “Bedford said.

“It’s impressive. It seems to be annoying,” he said, “it already seems to be functionally different.”

According to experts, it takes about two weeks before the potential dangers of Omicron become apparent. Important questions include whether the virus is more contagious, causes a more serious illness, or avoids the vaccine.

“You shouldn’t scare people every time a new variant comes out,” Racaniello said. “I think vaccines are effective and will continue to work as long as variants emerge.” He said that the scientist’s ability to sequence the viral genome is a “double-edged sword” and at the same time provides important information. Said to ring the alarm before the facts were revealed.

Certain information is still pending, but some experts say that a phenomenon known as epistasis may allow multiple mutations to cancel each other out rather than make the virus more frightening together. I’m pointing out. “It’s important to get a complete sense of the virus,” said Penny Moore, a virologist at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in South Africa. Told the New York Times..

Another theory that may raise people’s expectations is that viruses tend to evolve over time and become less virulent. The idea is that if the virus relieves people’s illness, it can be more successful in spreading to others.

But experts said the theory has not yet been proven. “The problem is that there isn’t much evidence about it,” Racaniello said.

Rhoads also said that the disease that people suffer is essentially a “side effect” of the infection, so the evolution of the virus can “go in either direction” with respect to the severity of the disease.

So what is the key to stopping the mutation? By vaccination of the world, experts say, the virus denies the opportunity to continue trying to improve itself.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease doctor, said in a briefing on Wednesday’s White House COVID-19 response team: The situation in which the virus is essentially freely distributed in both domestic and global societies and has no opportunity to circulate freely, as it is today.

“The more protection you get with a vaccine, the less likely the virus will do it, the less likely the virus will mutate, and the less likely you will get a variant,” he said. ..

Racaniello said: … we will not only protect them from disease, but also have fewer variants. “

He imagines a world where the pandemic is over and there are only “small outbreaks” here and there, perhaps a year or two from now.

“It depends on how long it takes to be vaccinated in other parts of the world,” he said. “People need to be vaccinated, and it’s all over.”

Martin Finne Cane can be reached at [email protected]..