As the coronavirus swept across the world, it picked up random alterations to its genetic sequence. Like meaningless typos in a script, most of those mutations made no difference in how the virus behaved. But one mutation near the beginning of the pandemic did make a difference, multiple new findings suggest, helping the virus spread more easily from person to person…
Tag: Mutations
Denmark to cull all farmed mink to stop coronavirus outbreaks
The virus has mutated in mink — as might be expected — but we don’t know if those mutations changed the virus significantly. Source: https://www.livescience.com/denmark-culling-minks-coronavirus.html
Tiny Variants In Genes May Dictate Severity of Coronavirus
Scientists are tracking small differences in DNA to explain why the disease has different effects. An anonymous reader shares a report from The Guardian: Key developments include research which indicates that interferon — a molecular messenger that stimulates immune defenses against invading viruses — may play a vital role in defending the body. Scientists have found that rare mutations in some…
Corals are first animals seen to pass on mutations acquired as adults
Adult corals can pass on mutations they have acquired during their lives to their offspring, like some plants do, overturning a belief that no animals can hand down such mutations Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2258746-corals-are-first-animals-seen-to-pass-on-mutations-acquired-as-adults/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Coronavirus mutations: what we’ve learned so far
How fast is the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, mutating? And how have those genetic changes affected the virus? Source: https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-mutations-explained.html
UK Mathematician Wins Richest Prize in Academia For His Work On Stochastic Analysis
Lanodonal writes: A mathematician who tamed a nightmarish family of equations that behave so badly they make no sense has won the most lucrative prize in academia. Martin Hairer, an Austrian-British researcher at Imperial College London, is the winner of the 2021 Breakthrough prize for mathematics, an annual $3m award that has come to rival the Nobels in terms of kudos…
Biogen Conference Likely Led To 20,000 COVID-19 Cases In Boston Area
schwit1 shares a report from The Boston Globe: A new study estimates the Biogen conference held at Boston’s Marriott Long Wharf hotel in February played a far greater role in spreading the coronavirus than previously thought. The research team analyzed the genetic sequences of the virus that caused COVID-19 in the 772 patients, almost all from Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Suffolk…
Lab-grown sperm could let infertile men have gene-edited children
The first reliable way of isolating and growing sperm stem cells could lead to new fertility treatments, including correcting mutations that block sperm production Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2248668-lab-grown-sperm-could-let-infertile-men-have-gene-edited-children/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Scientists Make Precise Gene Edits To Mitochondrial DNA For First Time
A peculiar bacterial enzyme has allowed researchers to achieve what even the popular CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing system couldn’t manage: targeted changes to the genomes of mitochondria, cells’ crucial energy-producing structures. From a report: The technique — which builds on a super-precise version of gene editing called base editing — could allow researchers to develop new ways to study, and perhaps even treat,…
Dr. Anthony Fauci Says New Virus In China Has Traits of 2009 Swine Flu, 1918 Pandemic Flu
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that U.S. health officials are keeping an eye on a new strain of flu carried by pigs in China that has characteristics of the 2009 H1N1 virus and 1918 pandemic flu. The virus, which scientists are calling “G4 EA H1N1,” has not yet been…