#15,711
Yesterday, in Virological: Another E484K South American Variant To Ponder, we looked at a paper that described yet another emerging COVID variant, spreading rapidly in Manaus, Amazonas in Northern Brazil.
Over the weekend we saw this same variant reported in Japan, brought in by 4 travelers from Brazil.
The independent emergence of several COVID variants around the globe - all different, but sharing some crucial spike protein mutations - isn't completely unexpected. There are only so many amino acid changes that convey a fitness advantage to the virus, and those are the ones that survive and thrive.
Those mutations that are neutral, or prove detrimental to the virus, are evolutionary dead ends.
Today we've a (translated) statement from FIOCRUZ (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz), one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific research institutes in South America, that sheds some additional light on the Amazonas variant.
Fiocruz publishes Technical Note on new variant of Sars-CoV-2 in Amazonas
1/13/2021
By: Marlúcia Seixas (Fiocruz Amazônia)
Research carried out at the Leônidas & Maria Deane Institute (ILMD / Fiocruz Amazônia) and coordinated by researcher Felipe Naveca, confirmed the identification of the origin of the new variant of the Sars-CoV-2 B.1.1.28 strain in Amazonas, provisionally designated as B.1.1 .28 (K417N / E484K / N501Y).
The study suggests that the strains, detected in Japanese travelers who had passed through the Amazon region, evolved from a viral strain in Brazil, which circulates in Amazonas.
The findings also point out that the mutation detected in variant B.1.1.28 (K417N / E484K / N501Y) is a recent phenomenon, probably occurring between December 2020 and January 2021. According to the note, the emergence of new variants of the Sars-CoV-2 that harbor a greater number of protein mutations called Spike has been of concern worldwide, especially after the recent identification of two strains, one in the United Kingdom and another in South Africa. In Brazil, the epidemic de Sars-Cov-2 occurred from two strains, called B.1.1.28 and B.1.1.33, which probably appeared in the country in February 2020.
The researcher informs that, in partnership with the Amazonas Health Surveillance Foundation (FVS / AM) and the Central Laboratory of Public Health of Amazonas (Lacen-AM), he is conducting a genomic survey of individuals recently infected with Sars- CoV-2 in Amazonas, in order to detect the circulation of this strain in the State.
"Our preliminary analysis also confirms that the emerging Brazilian strains B.1.1.28 (E484k) and B.1.1.28 (K417N / E484k / N501Y) emerged independently during the diversification of the B.1.1.28 strain in Brazil.
The simultaneous emergence of different viral B1.1 strains that carry K417N / E484K / N501Y mutations in the Spike protein receptor binding domain in different countries around the world during the second half of 2020 suggests selective convergent changes in the evolution of Sars-CoV-2 due to similar evolutionary pressure during the process of infection of millions of people ", notes the Note.
According to Naveca, if these mutations confer some selective advantage for viral transmissibility, we should expect an increase in the frequency of these viral strains in Brazil and worldwide in the coming months.
The studies carried out by Fiocruz Amazônia receive support from Fiocruz, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Amazonas State Research Support Foundation (Fapeam). Read the full Technical Note .
It seems as if we are hearing about new variants practically every day, and while some of that is due to the fact that we are now more actively looking for them, viruses must evolve if they are to survive long term.
The more community immunity grows to the old COVID virus - whether through natural infection of vaccination - the greater the pressure on the virus to evolve.
Most of the variants we are hearing about are unlikely to be game changers, and most will end up as being footnotes in the history of the pandemic. But one or more could could end up being contenders.
And right now, our surveillance and testing is inadequate to predict which ones will be the next rising viral stars of this pandemic.
