Scientists discover Omicron linked to virus in lab
(Baonghean.vn) - Experts from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have argued that it is difficult for Omicron to accumulate so many mutations in humans. Perhaps the virus must have "jumped" through mice first and then transmitted back to humans.
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| Illustration photo. Photo: AP |
“The authors of the paper have provided convincing evidence that Omicron has made a double jump,” said Professor Konstantin Krutovsky at the SibFU Department of Genomics and Bioinformatics.
In the paper, the Chinese scientists noted two mutations that were unique to Omicron and not present in other strains. “It is noteworthy that only Q493R and Q498R (mutations in Omicron) significantly increased the affinity (strength of binding effect) for mouse ACE2 (the receptor that acts as the “gateway” for the coronavirus), consistent with their detection in mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 variants,” the researchers noted.
An adapted virus is a virus that has been specially engineered in the lab to infect mice. Scientists used a method called directed mutagenesis to modify human SARS-CoV-2. They took regular SARS-CoV-2 and transferred it from human cells to mouse cells by gradually increasing its infectivity. In doing so, they created several “mouse” strains of SARS-CoV-2 whose key mutations matched the Omicron variant./.
