Scientists dispel fear of coronavirus mutations, say’Malaysia strain’ is not the cause of concern

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New Delhi: A new coronavirus variant, reported to be 10 times more infectious than Malaysia, is widespread in India and is more virulent than strains from Wuhan, according to scientists, so there is no concern. ..

The D614G strain of this virus was discovered in a cluster from Malaysia. Includes restaurant owners returning from India.

His claim of “ten times more infectious and easily spread by individual superspreaders” caused flutter, but scientists shed fear and had nothing to worry about. Said.

The mutation may have just been reported in Malaysia, but is not new in the world, according to virologist Upasanarei.

“After seeing it happen in April, it eventually ruled over many countries. A senior scientist at the CSIR Indian Institute for Chemical Biology in Kolkata told PTI.

Some reports claim that mutations can increase the infectivity of the virus, but this is not well established and does not necessarily indicate the pathogenicity or harm of the disease ..

Ray said that even variants of the highly infectious and highly contagious virus may actually be less capable of causing disease in humans.

Research in a journal in July cell A new coronavirus variant called “D614G” may infect cells grown in the laboratory more than other strains, according to scientists including Bet Cober of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States. did.

Studies have shown that this mutant, the molecule aspartic acid (designated D) replaced by another building block, glycine (G), quickly emerged as the dominant strain around the world shortly after its first appearance, and Rapidly with grown cells in a grown laboratory.

This mutation is part of the spike protein used by the novel coronavirus to enter the host cell.

A strain carrying the D614G mutation, called the “G-clade,” was widespread in India dating back to April and agreed with Kumar Somasundam, a professor of microbiology and cell biology at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore.

G-clades or variants now account for about 70-75% of Indian cases, he told PTI.

In June Somasundaram’s team published research in a journal Current scienceAnalyzes hundreds of samples of Indian viruses.

“When 100 samples of patients in India were analyzed in April, 40-50% of them were G-clad viruses. Looking at those analyzed in June, all analyzed over the months , The G-clade accounts for 70-75% of Indian cases,” he explained.

“Wild type”

The first “wild type” of the virus from the first epidemic of the pandemic in Wuhan, China had a D-clade of the virus, but many of the outbreaks in India were from infected persons returning from Europe in the G-clade. started.

“From February to March, the virus detected in Indian patients came mainly from Europe, and to some extent from the Middle East and Oceania, but Europe was still rich in the G-clade virus. Have begun to spread more and more in India,” Somasundam said.

IISc microbiologists point out that unlike some other parts of the world, such as the United States, where other clades were initially present, G clades were more common during outbreaks in India.

“Because the virus can grow faster, it has a better advantage over other types and has begun to almost completely take over other stocks. This also applies to the global scenario in which other stocks dominate. He added.

“Over a period of time, the G-clade used its spreading ability to account for nearly 95% of patients who were infected at some point in time,” Somasundaram said.

However, he explained that he had no difference in the consequences of COVID-19 disease compared to wild-type virus or other strains.

“The G-clade virus does not affect the severity or outcome of the disease differently, so it’s no different than the wild type,” Somasundam said.

Studies such as research by Korber and his team have demonstrated that the G-clade virus can infect cells grown in the laboratory more than other strains, but some virologists We argue that this may still not be evidence of increased contagiousness in humans.

“The meaning of sending to a new host is not clear”

Scientists, including Angela Rasmussen of Columbia Post Public Health School in the United States, mentioned in a commentary recently published in the journal cell Lab tests can demonstrate the ability of the virus to infect cultured cells, but “it’s not clear what it means to be able to productively infect a new host.”

“These assays do not account for the effects of other viruses or host proteins, and the parade of biochemical host-pathogen interactions that must occur to support infection and transmission,” Rasmussen and her. Said a colleague.

According to Somasundaram, mutations in the G-clade virus spike protein may not affect vaccine development.

“Originally, it was suggested that a vaccine developed against the wild-type virus might not work against the mutant. However, this mutation is the way the immune system recognizes the virus. There may be no difference,” he said.

“Variants containing mutant S proteins can also be neutralized by vaccines developed against wild-type viruses,” Somasundaram explained.

The Rasmussen team pointed out the same.

They say that antibodies generated from natural infection with the D or G clade virus may cross-neutralize, “the D614G mutation is unlikely to have a significant impact on the efficacy of vaccines currently in the pipeline.” Suggests.

A safe strategy for developing a vaccine might be to look for targets in other areas of the spike protein that have not been mutated, Ray said.

“The spike protein has other regions that are more stable and therefore must be targetable. We definitely need more research into this variant to monitor this variant,” she says. I added.

(PTI)