Newly identified Omicron Some scientists suggest that coronavirus variants may have evolved in non-human animal species, potentially rodents.
According to this theory, animals may have picked up SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, around mid-2020. STAT reported..Changed after accumulating many mutations in animals coronavirus After that, he would have returned to humans. This sequence of events can be described as a zoonotic disease in which pathogens jump from human to animal, followed by a zoonotic disease in which bacteria move from animal to human.
One of the key evidences supporting this theory is that Omicron diverged from other SARS-CoV-2 mutants very long ago, Kristian Andersen, an immunoscientist at the Scripps Research Institute, told STAT.
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Compared to other theories about the origin of Omicron, such as evolution in immunocompromised people and zoonotic diseases with inadequate virus monitoring, “this reverse zoonotic disease followed by a new zoonotic disease. Seems more likely to me, given only the available evidence of really deep branches, “meaning early division from other coronavirus variants,” and some of them are very It’s rare, so the mutation itself, “Andersen said.
Omicron carries seven mutation This can cause the mutant to infect rodents such as mice and rats. Other variant of concern, such as Alpha, have only some of these seven mutations, Robert Garry, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulane Medical School, told STAT. (Gary also said it is still unclear whether Omicron has appeared in animal or human hosts.)
In addition to these “rod-adapted” gene variants, Omicron has a number of mutations not found in other versions of SARS-CoV-2, which some scientists say. Considered as potential evidence of emergence in animal hosts. Science reported..
“Interesting. How crazy it is,” said Mike Warobib, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona. “I suspect that other species may be chronically infected.” This may facilitate the emergence of new mutants with many mutations.But at this point, Wolloby is Omicron Immunodeficiency Humans, not animals.
Science reported that this was one of the main theories proposed by other experts. In this scenario, the immunocompromised person was infected with COVID-19, but developed a chronic infection and was unable to remove the body from the body. virusIt picked up many mutations as it continued to grow. Evidence suggests that the alpha mutant may have acquired the mutation in this way, but this has not yet been confirmed for Omicron, Science reported.
If it does not appear in animals or in immunocompromised individuals, Omicron may first appear in a population with poor virus monitoring. In other words, it may have spread and evolved unnoticed for over a year. “I think this evolved somewhere in South Africa during the winter waves, not South Africa, where many sequences take place,” said Christian Drosten, a virologist at Charite University Hospital in Berlin. Told to.
But for this to be true, the affected population would have had to be extremely isolated so that Omicron would not spread far beyond its rank, the University of Edinburgh’s Evolutionary Biologist. Said scholar Andrew Lambo. “We don’t really know where in the world there is a place in the world that is isolated enough to be transmitted over a period of time without the virus appearing in different places.”
For more information on the potential origin of the Omicron variant STAT When Chemistry..
Originally published on Live Science.
One theory states that the Omicron variant may have evolved in the rat.
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