Mutations on the coronavirus have been previously reported, and now scientists are concerned that some strains of the virus may be adapting to humans. An analysis conducted in more than 5,300 genomes of coronavirus from 62 countries shows two genetic changes that alter the critical "spike protein" that the virus uses to infect people.
Since the changes arose independently in different countries and even though it is still unclear how the mutations on the virus could affect it, these mutations may help the virus spread easily, said the researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Although the spike mutations are rare at the moment, Martin Hibberd, emerging infectious diseases professor and study senior author, said that their emergence calls for global surveillance of the coronavirus so that more worrying alterations are immediately recorded.
Spike Mutations Could Threaten Vaccine Development
According to early studies, coronavirus has spike protein that allows it to attach itself to the human cell more efficiently than SARS, which is a related virus that caused an outbreak in 2003. The difference between the two viruses helped the novel coronavirus to infect more people and spread rapidly.
As experts around the world struggle to race in finding a vaccine that could fight the novel coronavirus, the spike mutation might make all their efforts futile. Vaccines and other therapies are tailored to target spike protein on coronavirus to make sure it will not infect human cells.
Scientists are worried that an increase in more extensive mutations in spike proteins will not only alter how the virus behaves but potential therapies such as synthetic antibodies - that home in on spike proteins - could also be less effective.
Hibberd emphasized that the new spike mutation is a warning that even though these mutations are not a threat for current candidate vaccines, other mutations could be. It is important to maintain surveillance on the virus so that experts do not only make candidate vaccines that work for one strain but all.
Coronavirus May be Adapting to its Human Host
Many speculate that the virus is a result of a leak in a Chinese laboratory. But a team of international researchers used genetic analyses to show that it originated from the bats, unlike what conspiracy theorists claimed. They published their findings last month.
Meanwhile, another group of scientists analyzed 5,349 coronavirus genomes that have been uploaded to two major genetics databases since the outbreak began. They worked out how the virus has diversified into different strains and looked for signs that it was adapting to its human host.
According to their unpublished study that has yet to be peer-reviewed, they were able to identify two broad groups of the virus that have already spread around the world. They found that one of the two spike mutations was present in 788 viruses globally, while the other one is found in only 32.
This means that one group of spike mutation of coronaviruses in China escaped detection due to a mutation in the genetic region that early tests relied on until January. Fortunately, more recent tests can detect all of the known strains of the virus.
