The progenitor of the novel coronavirus has undergone ‘little change’ to adapt to humans from bats, according to a new study which shows that the ability of the virus to spread from one person to another appears to have increased in the flying mammal before jumping to the new human guest.
The study, published in the journal PLOS Biology, evaluated hundreds of thousands of sequencing genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and found that for the first 11 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was very little ‘ important genetic mutation ‘observed in the coronavirus.
However, he noted that some modifications, such as D614G mutation, and a similar print in the virus’s spike protein have affected its biology.
“This does not mean that no changes have taken place, non-significant changes in evolution accumulate and surf across millions of transmission events, as they do in all viruses,” he explained. first study author Oscar MacLean from Glasgow University’s Virus Research Center in Scotland.
But the scientists said it was ‘surprising’ how transmissible SARS-CoV-2 is from its origin.
“Viruses that jump to a new host species usually take some time to get changes to become as viable as SARS-CoV-2 at release, and most never. ‘goes beyond that level, and that results in localized spills or outbreaks,’ said Sergei Pond, another co – author of the study from Temple University in the USA.
Analyzing the mutations made by the novel coronavirus and associated sarbecoviruses, the group of viruses belong to the Covid virus from bats and pangolins, the scientists found evidence of a moderate change, but all before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in humans.
Based on this observation, the researchers said that SARS-CoV-2 came with a ready ability to capture humans and other mammals, with these properties likely to evolve into bats before jumping into humans.
“Although intermediate‘ easy ’intermediate sex cannot be detected, together, our results support the SARS-CoV-2 promoter to be able to effectively deliver human-to-human transmission as a result. on its changing evolutionary history in bats, not humans, which created a relatively common virus, “the scientists wrote in the study.
Although the novel coronavirus is still plagued by the human immune response in most diseases, the scientists warned that it is now moving away faster than the January 2020 variant that was used in all routine vaccines to build immunity.
Conventional vaccines will continue to work against most of the circulation variables, but as more time passes, and as the difference between the numbers of vaccinated and non-vaccinated people increases, they said increased chance of the virus escaping vaccines.
“It was the first race to develop a vaccine. The race now is to get the global vaccine as soon as possible,” said David L Robertson, lead author of the study from Glasgow University.
(Supported by organizations)