Newly Formed Variants Infect Cells Rapidly

Stating that the newly formed variants make their dangerous properties even more effective, experts point out that they infect cells faster.

Üsküdar University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Molecular Biology and Genetics Instructor Prof. Dr. Korkut Ulucan made evaluations on the variants of the coronavirus that have affected the whole world for more than a year.

Stating that the pandemic of the century, which started in Wuhan, China as of the end of 2019, affected the whole world in a short time. Dr. Korkut Ulucan said, “The pandemic has completely changed the rules of the world. Pandemic is still on our agenda with news of new variants and suddenly increasing deaths. What are these variants and how are they so dangerous? said.

Virus analyzed with genetic studies

Noting that after the virus was determined to be the cause of the disease, scientists managed to analyze the genetic structure of the virus within days as a result of the information in the field of molecular biology and the point reached. Dr. Korkut Ulucan said, “Thus, we had a lot of information about the genetic structure of the virus. What information is hidden in which regions, we have very important information about the metabolism inside and inside the cell, and the content of the genetic structure that governs these metabolisms. This information actually provided very important information to scientists both for the treatment of the disease and for vaccine studies. In this way, vaccination studies have accelerated. " He talked about the importance of scientific developments.

Viruses reproduce themselves in the host cell

Prof. Dr. Korkut Ulucan made the following evaluations regarding the virus creating too many variants:

“Viruses are also considered as obligate intracellular parasites, ie they only activate themselves in another cell. After entering the host cell, they either integrate their own genome into the host cell genome, or they tend to infect other cells by rapidly replicating themselves and killing the host cell, ”he said.

The newly formed variants are more effective

Sometimes they make mistakes while synthesizing their genomes during rapid reproduction. These errors either give viruses a new feature or increase the effect of an existing feature or cause the loss of the effect of an existing feature. Here, the newly formed variants make their properties even more effective when they pose a danger to us, they infect cells faster. " said.

Noting that these variants proliferate very rapidly due to these features, Prof. Dr. Korkut Ulucan said, “They become a dominant variant in a certain region over time and increase the speed and risk of infection. Therefore, characterization of the variants formed is very important. "The more viruses enter the host cell, the more they are open to change and the more dangerous they reach for us," he drew attention to the danger of variants.

The increase in the number of deaths is proportional to the variants that occur

Prof. Dr. Korkut Ulucan said the following regarding the increase in the number of deaths:

“The more easily viruses enter the cells, the more numerical they reach, and they can cause undesirable consequences, especially in sensitive individuals, meaning that a virus can easily enter the cell, infect more individuals with new variants, and thus cause more serious damage to individuals who cannot resist the virus. can come. Therefore, the hypothesis that new variants have a high risk of infection but a low mortality rate is not always correct. Here, the genetic structures of infected individuals and the strength of their immune systems are also important, that is, the resistance of the host cell and the infected individuals against the virus, and the biological and genetic structure underlying this resistance are very important.

Prof. Dr. Korkut Ulucan noted that the mortality rates are not only dependent on the virus, but are linked to the genetic and biological structure of the individual.

There is also the possibility that newly formed and potential variants are fusions.

Stating that the more the virus infects, the more it invites change. Dr. Korkut Ulucan concluded his words as follows:

“The errors that can occur while copying the genome of the virus we are currently guessing, and the variations that result from these errors either acquiring new features or enhancing a feature. At first, we compared it with influenza, and we thought whether the different variants we observed in influenza could combine in one cell and form a new and dangerous variant. Our current knowledge is not in this direction, but for now, for example, the fact that the previous variants have common points in the Indian virus, which scares us now, has made us think this way. As we already have information, we will be able to understand more clearly whether all variants are derived from the original SARS-CoV-2 and naturally their common regions are likely to be found, but over time, different variants infect a cell and create new gene combinations within the cell. It is too early to claim this, but it should not be forgotten that just as new variants show more severe features in the virus, variants that lose their characteristic are also formed, and perhaps we will be able to get rid of this virus with the proliferation of these variants, the acceleration of vaccination studies and we more carefully leave the virus without a host cell. Therefore, until there is zero incidents, attention should be continued to pay attention to the distance, mask, ventilation and hygiene quadrilateral, ”he said.