What are the 677 mutations? New Covid-19 variants found in the USA

Random differentiation is an essential part of all living things. It drives diversity, which is why there are so many different species. There are no viruses. Most viruses are known to modify genomes to adapt to their environment. We now have evidence that the virus that causes Covid, SARS-CoV-2, is not only changing, but changing in ways that are important. This is the sixteenth part of a series of articles on how the virus changes and what that means for humanity. Read the rest: part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, part eight, part nine, part ten, part eleven, part twelve, part thirteen, part fourteen, and part fifteen.

This winter, new variants of SARS-CoV-2 have taken the world by storm. They have appeared in corners of the world as diverse as Brazil and the United Kingdom; exhibits a number of new and disturbing properties, ranging from increased mobility to immunogenicity; and complex our best efforts to mitigate Covid-19 emissions through public health measures and vaccines. Earlier this week I wrote a piece outlining why this move is so worrying for the United States, where changes of concern have been noted in states like Ohio and California but otherwise they are virtually under the radar, circulating unnoticed by most Americans. In today’s installment, I want to focus on the recent appearance of what researchers call the 677 versions, a crop of lines that at least for now look limited to the USA only.

An indication of viral variation is that the tiny changes that distinguish one from the next can appear in different places at the same time, developing independently of each other. One example is N501Y spike protein mutation which is known to increase virus affinity for our ACE2 receptors. N501Y was first seen in the genome of variant B.1.1.7 (UK), but it didn’t take long for scientists to find its presence in the versions B.1.351 (South Africa) and P.1 (Brazil). ) as well. Another spike protein mutation linked to a protective escape, E484K, has also gained a global high frequency, first appearing in B.1.351 and more recently in B.1.525, the latest variant for onshore wash-up Britain.

The 677 variables, according to a preliminary study published last week, are similar in that they were first discovered in October with genomic analysis programs nearly a mile apart. They are named for the same generality – mutations at the 677 amino acid site. In Louisiana, where one of the programs to successfully detect them, researchers found that the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 viruses in local circulation rose with a mutation of Q677P from zero to close. on a third (28 percent) between early December 2020 and the end of January 2021. Within the same period, the frequency of change in New Mexico, where the other program is based, increased by just over 11 per cent.

The researchers were so intrigued by the assemblage around site 677 that they decided to look for other 677 point mutations by phylogenetic analysis of the available genomic data (Figure 1) . One mutation, Q77H, appeared in six different series from August to November 2020. While four of the six were tested in just about 100 Covid-19 cases or less, the other two showed up well. more often – one with nearly 300 cases and the other nearly 800. These numbers may be looking small compared to the 28 million cases reported in the U.S. to date, with the scarcity of U.S. genomic sequencing efforts reveals potential for further dissemination.

I have previously written about a rapidly declining variable in Columbus, Ohio that has a Q77H mutation, but in that particular state the UK variable B.1.1.7 is reported to be distributed to a major stain by March or April, according to Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, their chief medical officer. The B.1.525 crisis variant, identified in Nigeria, Denmark, the UK, and several other countries, will also carry the Q77H mutation, leaving it as the only international variant to do so. But more than that, mutations at site 677 are absently evident from the various variables that have been controlled worldwide to date, appearing almost exclusively in nascent lines in the USA.

While mutations at site 677 have not been observed in most of the new versions deployed across Europe, South America, and elsewhere, there are others that are also located in the location. lock between the receptor and peptide fusion binding areas. The B.1.1.7 (RA) variant, for example, modulates P681H just a few amino acids away, and the mink variant that makes the rounds in Denmark with an I692V mutation is in a nearby range. (Figure 2). Site 677 is also not far from the furin acting site, located between the S1 and S2 proteins at amino acids 685 to 686. I have profited in my new book Variations! that one of the reasons SARS-CoV-2 is so contagious is that an additional furin acting site, which adorns the surface of the virus with spikes that are prime and ready to go. The 677 mutations may strengthen this technique – similar to applying a hair spray on a cocked pistol – but much more research is needed before we can say this for sure.

In my next piece, I will go over why the new variables represent an opportunity for the U.S. to reevaluate and update its public health protocols. As well as simply preventing the worst, these measures will serve as a move toward a pandemic preparedness level that will protect us from future outbreaks of Covid-19 and any diseases. others to come, no matter how different they may be.