Australian researchers have released groundbreaking findings on Tuesday that shed light on how quickly SARS-CoV-2—the virus responsible for COVID-19—evolves.
The study provides critical insights that could help in predicting and managing future variants.
Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) tracked the genetic evolution of SARS-CoV-2 over five years by serially passaging 11 samples from nine major variants, including Alpha, Delta, and Omicron, to observe how the virus mutates over time, according to a release from UNSW Sydney, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
By studying the virus in a controlled environment, researchers could observe its natural evolutionary pathways without the unpredictable variables of real-world infections, said the study's lead author, Charles Foster, from UNSW's School of Biomedical Sciences.
This approach helps anticipate which mutations may arise next, allowing scientists and public health officials to better prepare vaccines and treatments, Foster said.
"By growing the virus over many generations in a controlled lab environment, we can observe how it evolves without the influence of the immune system or treatments. That gives us a clearer picture of its natural evolutionary pathways," he said.
The study found that SARS-CoV-2 kept evolving and accumulating mutations even after 100 generations in the lab, with some mutations repeatedly emerging across different strains, a pattern known as convergent evolution, the release said.
Many of the mutations were found in the spike protein, which helps the virus infect human cells, but other parts of the virus also changed, and sometimes even more quickly. Importantly, some of these mutations are already known to make certain vaccines less effective, said the study published in the Journal of Virology.
"We've made all of our sequencing data freely available so other researchers can dig into it, compare it with clinical samples, and hopefully uncover even more about how this virus evolves," Foster said, adding understanding these evolutionary patterns is crucial for staying ahead of COVID-19 and preparing for whatever comes next.
