The hubbub around mutations in the virus that causes COVID-19—and how they might make it more infectious—has been around since the early phase of the pandemic. A preprint study about a particular mutation involving the “spikes” studding the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen had previously drawn attention, and that investigation has now been peer-reviewed and published in Cell. The paper details a change in one amino acid in the virus that may have made it more infectious. But virologists are far from a consensus about the possible role of this mutation.
The paper indicates that a single amino acid change from D (aspartic acid) to G (glycine) on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (which such viruses use to grab onto human cells) is the key to how infectious the pathogen is. “The spike protein has a critically important role in the biology of the virus,” says Bette Korber, a computational biologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author of the new paper.
Korber and her colleagues came to this conclusion after employing multiple approaches to examine the two strains. First, they performed a statistical analysis that showed how the mutated virus—often referred to as the “G strain”—achieved dominance across multiple continents, outperforming the coexisting original version of SARS-CoV-2, or “D strain.” Then the researchers tested the amount of the virus in individuals with COVID-19 at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in England. The results showed that the G strain produced more of the virus in the human body than the D strain. But the former did not lead to a higher hospitalization rate, meaning it apparently did not cause more severe illnesses. Lastly, the team members created “pseudotype” pathogens by embedding SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, containing either D or G amino acids, into other disease-causing viruses. They tested these pseudotype viruses by infecting human cells in a lab dish, and the result suggested that the G-bearing one was more infectious. Examining cells in a dish, however, is not the same as testing them using “multiple cell types with an immune system in a human body,” says Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, who was not involved in the study. “We just have to be really careful with how far we take the conclusions.”
Image Credit: Amanda Scott/ Alias
News This Week
Emission of Fe- and Ti-Containing Nanoparticles from Coal-Fired Power Plants
In an article published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, researchers have highlighted the significance and potential risks associated with the release of nanoparticles from coal-fired power plants. Applying the single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass [...]
Covalent Organic Framework Nanofluidic Hybrid Membrane for Osmotic Energy Generation
A paper recently published in the journal ACS Applied Energy Materials demonstrated the feasibility of using a covalent organic framework (COF)-based nanofluidic hybrid membranes (NHMs) to attain enhanced interfacial ion transport for the generation of osmotic [...]
Degradable Nanocomposite Removes Antibiotics from Contaminated Water
The excess fluoroquinolones (FQs) discharged into the aquatic environment due to human activities must be removed cost-effectively. In an article published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, the authors fabricated an environment-friendly dealkaline lignin-grafted Fe3O4 nanoparticles [...]
Light-controlled reactions at the nanoscale
Controlling strong electromagnetic fields on nanoparticles is the key to triggering targeted molecular reactions on their surfaces. Such control over strong fields is achieved via laser light. Although laser-induced formation and breaking of molecular [...]
Bright Future for Nanophotonic Chips with Topological Rainbow Device
A paper recently published in the journal Nature Communications demonstrated an effective method to realize on-chip nanophotonic topological rainbow devices using the concept of synthetic dimensions. Importance of Synthetic Dimensions for the Construction of Topological Nanophotonics [...]
Green Approach to Silver Nanoparticle Fabrication with Citrus Fruits
In a study available in the journal Materials Today: Proceedings, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were fabricated using a green method using Citrus X sinensis. Methylthioninium Chloride (MB) Dyes Threatening the Environment Dye and sewage drainage into [...]
Coronavirus ‘ghosts’ found lingering in the gut
Scientists are studying whether long COVID could be linked to viral fragments found in the body months after initial infection. In the chaos of the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, oncologist and geneticist [...]
Experts perplexed over number of people getting long COVID
Public health experts are divided over how many people are getting long COVID-19, a potentially debilitating condition that comes after a patient has recovered from the coronavirus. Ill effects from the condition can include [...]
Four strange COVID symptoms you might not have heard about
Well over two years into the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of COVID cases continue to be recorded around the world every day. With the rise of new variants, the symptoms of COVID have also evolved. Initially, [...]
A new method for exploring the nano-world
Nanoparticles are everywhere. They are in our body as protein aggregates, lipid vesicles, or viruses. They are in our drinking water in the form of impurities. They are in the air we breath as [...]
Breast Cancer Drug Resistance Tackled By Polymer Nanoparticles
Drug resistance is a common phenomenon, with drugs becoming less and less effective as their usage increases. To address this issue, a novel technique employing conjugated polymer-based nanoparticles is presented in the study published [...]
New imaging method makes microrobots visible in the body
Microrobots have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Researchers at the Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technique that for the first time recognises cell-sized microrobots individually and at [...]
Multifunctional Nanocrystals Enhance Cancer Cell Killing Therapies
Scientists have recently developed multifunctional hexagonal NaxWO3 nanocrystals that can serve as microwave sensitizers to kill cancer cells as well as improve the overall chemodynamic therapy (CDT). This study is available as a pre-proof in Chemical Engineering Journal. [...]
Biotech, nanomedicine, and AI combine for health breakthrough predicted by Apple genius Steve Jobs
Apple’s visionary founder, the late Steve Jobs once said, “the biggest innovations of the 21st century will be at the intersection of biology and technology”. And that prediction is coming true in the drug [...]
Making chemical separation more eco-friendly with nanotechnology
Chemical separation processes are essential in the manufacturing of many products from gasoline to whiskey. Such processes are energetically costly, accounting for approximately 10–15 percent of global energy consumption. In particular, the use of [...]
Dual Function SARS-CoV-2 Sensor for Point of Contact Testing
Scientists have recently developed electrochemical immunosensors based on graphene oxide−gold (GO−Au) nanocomposites. These immunosensors are highly sensitive with dual function, i.e., they can detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen and antibody. [...]
