This is why Delta spreads like wildfire – El Financiero

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a Article – Commodity It was published last week in the magazine temper nature It states that several studies have found that altering the amino acids present in the delta variant of the coronavirus could contribute to its rapid spread.

Such research indicates that delta is at least 40 per cent more transmissible than the alpha variant identified in the UK at the end of 2020.

The team, led by virologist Bai Yong Shi, of the University of Texas at Galveston, analyzed a single amino acid change mutation at the peak of the SARS-CoV-2 protein, the viral molecule responsible for cell recognition and invasion.


The change, which is called P681R and converts the proline residue to arginine, occurs within an extensively studied region of the protein peak called the furin cleavage site.

The presence of this short chain of amino acids raised alarms when SARS-CoV-2 was first identified in China, where it was associated with increased infection in viruses such as influenza, but had not previously been found in other SARS-CoV-2. To which SARS-CoV-2 belongs.

Although evidence is accumulating that the p681R mutation is a critical feature of Delta, the researchers stress that it is unlikely to be the only mutation responsible for its rapid spread. Delta has several other mutations in the spike protein, as well as other less-studied proteins, which may be important, according to the scientists.

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