Novel method developed to predict emergence of worrisome COVID variants

Experts believe the findings can help aid in tweaking vaccines

NEW DELHI: Scientists have developed a new method to predict the course of evolution of the novel coronavirus and determine which lineages currently in circulation could spread widely in future, an advance that may help vaccine manufacturers stay one-step ahead of worrisome antibody-escaping variants.

The study posted in the platform bioRxiv, and yet-tobe peer-reviewed, assessed 3,11,795 genome sequences of the coronavirus spike protein and found mutations altering the amino acid building blocks that make up the protein.

According to the researchers, including Lipi Thukral from the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), New Delhi, the genome sequences revealed 2,584 mutations in the spike protein that enables the virus to enter human cells.

Vaccines generally induce antibodies against specific parts of a pathogen’s proteins, and if these parts undergo mutation, the antibodies can no longer effectively bind and neutralise the virus, the scientists said.

Experts believe the findings can not only help understand the course of evolution of the virus, but also aid in tweaking vaccines.“We are trying to monitor all these mutations simultaneously. When they occur together, it has been reported in the past that it is a means for the pathogen to evolve into a completely different strain,’ added Thukral, the lead author of the study.