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RNA viruses like this coronavirus mutate an alarming rates. I would be shocked if these mutations have not already occurred in people. There must be a reason wh
by jostmey 6y ago
RNA viruses like this coronavirus mutate an alarming rates. I would be shocked if these mutations have not already occurred in people. There must be a reason why these mutations were not selected. They must be detrimental in other ways
- nostromo 6y agoThere are many reports that SARSCoV2 actually mutates quite slowly. https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-mutation-rate.html https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-mutation-rate.html
- pdxandi 6y agoYeah, my understanding is that SARS-CoV-2 has a proofreader enzyme that error corrects, which ensures fidelity during replication. In other words, it mutates a lot slower than say the flu.
- acomjean 6y agoAccording to a viroligist (UC Berkley) you are correct. The polymerase it uses to duplicate contains a profreading function. Its a big virus too: A way detailed presentation on the Virus: (I think about 40 minutes in it talks about the duplication). Its kind of an interesting talk: https://hhmi.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=045b42dc-e129-4ac8-98f3-ab9f0156e76d https://hhmi.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id...
- coliveira 6y agoIt might be the case that the current virus is already very good at its job, new mutations are now able to compete.