Researchers Push Game Theory in Understanding Mimicry in Viruses Like COVID

A team of researchers proposes that a game theory approach could offer new insights and methods into understanding the spread and effect of viruses, such as SARS-COV-2, which causes COVID-19.

"We need new models and technologies at many levels to understand how to tame viral pandemics," explains Bud Mishra, one of the authors of the study and a professor at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He adds that at the biomolecular level, their study demonstrates how cellularization works and is presented to help prevent the spread of diseases and encourage healthy functions.

Their work, titled "How Signaling Games Explain Mimicry at Many Levels: From Viral Epidemiology to Human Sociology," appears in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Aside from Mishra, the report also included assistant professor William Casey from the Cyber Science Department of the US Naval Academy and assistant professor Steven Massey from the University of Puerto Rico's Department of Biology.

Signaling Games and Mimicry

Researchers focused on mimicry's evolutionary form, where organisms change their form and properties to resemble another. Specifically, they looked at two types of the phenomenon, which are Batesian and Mullerian. The first one, named after the British naturalist Henry Walter Bates, refers to a type of mimicry that involves "conflict or deception" between the host and the imitating organisms. This is the type of mimicry when a hoverfly mimics the more threatening wasp to protect itself from predators better.

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On the other hand, Mullerian mimicry - named after German biologist Fritz Muller - occurs when a case of mutualism happens or when both the host and the receiving species benefit from the mimicry. An example is when two insects learn to adopt and perceive each other's warning signals as a means of protection for both of them.

Researchers noted that these forms of mimicry on the macro scale could also happen at the molecular level.

"The gene for an RNA or a protein macro-molecule can be considered as the sender, while the signal consists of the three-dimensional conformation of the expressed gene product," explains the author in their paper. They also noted that in this scenario, the receiving organism is the macro-molecule. This is usually a protein but can also take the form of an RNA or DNA molecule.

The Case With SARS-CoV-2 and Other Potential Viruses

Researchers particularly noted the case with SARS-CoV-2, which used multiple uses of this molecular mimicry, allowing it to exploit its human host's defenses. In Batesian mimicry, healthy cells are mimicked by the coronavirus to infect its host.

On the other hand, vaccines against the disease "trick" or "deceive" the human immune system, making it respond to a virus attack despite the absence of an actual one. This explains why vaccination could create adverse effects on the host in the long run; because of its body's response to the supposed virus attack, the immune system soon develops a response embedded in its memory in the event of an encounter with the actual virus.

With these findings in mind, researchers designed a mathematical model that could map out different signaling strategies to observe and analyze microorganisms' mimicry. Theoretically, it would earn a response from viruses that employ Batesian mimicry and vaccines that use Mullerian mimicry.