Biomics

A new coronavirus infection in two years of the pandemic led to the fact that the number of individual SARS-CoV-2 virions formed in patients and in asymptomatic carriers exceeded a sextillion (1021) and the law of the dialectic of the transition of quantity to quality in the form of RNA polymorphism of this coronavirus quasispecies inevitably had to come into effect. At the same time, virions differing in nucleotide sequences may simultaneously be present in individuals. Most likely, the diversity of coronaviruses is growing due to people with weak immunity, in whom SARS-CoV-2 persists for a long time, undergoing mutations caused by both the action of vaccines and drugs, which eventually generates the appearance of dangerous variants of the virus that contribute to the emergence of pandemic waves. There are five such Variant of Concern of coronaviruses, to which the World Health Organization recommended assigning designations using letters of the Greek alphabet, so far – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron, and the latter, having appeared quite recently, has already managed to practically displace all previous variants. Hypotheses trying to explain the unexpected appearance of an Omicron that has accumulated a very large number of mutations are considered. One of the most plausible versions is that it assumes the imperceptible evolution of this coronavirus, due to the fact that at first it did not pose any threat and did not come to the attention of specialists, but after one or two final mutations, it acquired a fundamentally different ability to multiply and massively infect people. There is no clear answer yet whether the letters of the Greek alphabet will be enough to designate new variants of SARS-CoV-2. But in any case, despite the escape of Omicron (and possibly new variants, including its derivatives) from protective antibodies, vaccination is the protection against COVID-19, since even without being able to resist the infection itself, they make it difficult for the virus to multiply inside the human body and thereby facilitate the course of the disease. However, it is necessary to create new vaccines taking into account mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2.

coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, quasispecies, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron, mutations, Spike protein, NSP14, exoribonuclease

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