TORONTO – Emerging coronavirus strains will be able to spread faster than the original virus thanks to spike studier proteins, according to a new study.
Bing Chen, a pediatric professor at Boston Children’s Hospital and his colleagues there analyzed changes in the spike proteins in the D614G movement, which is carried by the rapidly spreading coronavirus variants and originated in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.
To do this, the researchers analyzed the spike protein using a cryo-electron microscope, a type of image that is used on a frozen sample cryogenically “resolution is down to the atomic level,” which according to the press release.
According to the team’s findings, published in the journal ‘Science’ on March 16, the initial version of the virus would bind to human ACE2 receptors and then fold into itself, binding itself to their cells and get in, according to a previous study. and Chen.
With the original version, the spike protein would sometimes fall on itself too early, slowing the virus down, the news said.
The new changes with the D614G mutation have a more stable spike protein, however, and the issue of falling in on itself has been fixed, a press release said. The research also shows that the same mutation makes the spikes less binding to human ACE receptors, but because of the stronger spikes, it is more contagious.
“The original virus contains 100 spikes,” Chen said in the press release. “Because of shape instability, only 50 percent of them may be active. In the G614 variables, you probably have 90 percent that are functional, so while they don’t connect as well, the chances are the more you have an infection. “
Chen and his colleagues suggest that the routine approved vaccines and any vaccines in the work should include the genetic code for this simulation.
“The more stable spike shape of any spike-based vaccine (like the Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines) should make them more likely to receive neutral immune antibodies,” Chen said in a statement. the press release.