Two new COVID-19 variants have been found in Ohio, and appear to have originated in the United States, researchers announced Wednesday (January 13).
One of these variants, called the “Columbus strain”, has three gene mutations not previously seen together in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a statement of Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. These mutations occur in the so-called vein protein of the virus, which it uses to attach to cells.
This tribe quickly became the dominant coronavirus according to the researchers, who hope to soon post their findings on the pre-printed database bioRxiv, in Columbus, Ohio, over a three-week period from late December 2020 to early January.
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“This new Columbus strain has the same genetic backbone as previous cases we studied, but these three mutations represent an important evolution,” said Dr. Dan Jones, vice president of the division for molecular pathology at Wexner Medical Center, said. in the statement. “We know that this shift does not come from the British or South African branches of the virus.”
The researchers in Ohio have been following the SARS-CoV-2 genome from patient samples regularly since March 2020 to monitor the evolution of the virus.
Like other coronavirus variants found around the world, including the British variant, the mutations in the Columbus strain occur in the “spike protein” of the virus, which can enter the virus into cells. It is possible that these mutations make the virus transmissible, the researchers said.
But so far there is no evidence that these mutations affect the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, according to the researchers.
“It is important that we do not overreact to this new variant before obtaining additional data,” said Peter Mohler, co-author of the study and chief scientist at Wexner Medical Center.
The second variant found by the researchers in Ohio has a mutation called 501Y which is the same as one seen in the British variant. This mutation affects the receptor-binding domain, or part of the ear protein of the virus that attaches to the ACE2 receptor in human cells; in laboratory dish experiments, the mutated receptor-binding domain binds more strongly to the ACE2 receptor, was found in recent research.
But the researchers believe that the Ohio variant developed the mutation independently of a strain that was already in the US. It was found in one patient from Ohio, so the researchers do not yet know how common it is in the population.
A spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention told CNBC that the agency review the new research.
Originally published on Live Science.