Researchers from Cambridge University analyzed 150 complete genomes of the deadly coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and found three different variants of the infectious agent — A, B and C. it was Found that the genome of which has been allocated to 24 December 2019 in the Chinese laboratory is not the original strain of the virus that started the pandemic. The conclusions of the experts published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
All three differ from each other in amino acid sequence changes, which arose due to mutations in the genome. Type And closest to the coronavirus which is circulating in populations of bats and is ancestral in relation to the SARS-CoV-2. In other words, the type And, most likely, came directly from wild-type of coronavirus. Type a and type With spread beyond East Asia and are found mainly in Europe and the United States.
Type b derived from type A (there were two key mutations) characteristic of Asia, and he has not received the big distribution outside except for the mutated varieties. This is due either to the fact that this type exists immunological resistance in the rest of the population, or ecological barriers, or founder effect, when spreading to new areas genetic diversity is shifting.
During the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the Chinese city of Wuhan coronavirus type B was mistaken for the original virus. Then type In mutated in type S.
According to recent reports, there have been recorded more than 1.9 million cases of infection, died of over 114 thousand people.
