NEW VARIANT T478K: MOSTLY FOUND IN MEXICO ALSO FOUND IN EUROPE
- June 7, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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NEW VARIANT T478K: MOSTLY FOUND IN MEXICO ALSO FOUND IN EUROPE
Subject: Science & tech
Context: An analysis of more than one million SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences has led to the identification of a new variant that, over the past weeks, has been spreading mostly in Mexico but has also been found in Europe.
Concept:
- Biotechnologists of the University of Bologna have published their paper in the Journal of Medical Virology, describing the new variant, whose scientific name is T478K. Like other strains, this presents a mutation in the spike protein.
- This variant represents 52.8% of all sequenced coronaviruses in Mexico, whereas in the US it shows up only in 2.7% of the sequenced samples.
Mutations
- The DNA sequence is specific to each organism. It can sometimes undergo changes in its base-pairs sequence. It is termed as a mutation.
- A mutation may lead to changes in proteins translated by the DNA. Usually, the cells can recognize any damage caused by mutation and repair it before it becomes permanent.