Why is this omicron 'weaker' than the one in Wuhan? This has been demonstrated in a high-security laboratory

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For a year now, the world has learned to live with omicron and his 'descendants'.

And so, since December 2021, little by little the new faces of this strain of SARS-CoV-2 have begun to find their place.

Although there have been some outbreaks of cases, they have less and

and natural immunity (re-infections) and acquired immunity (vaccines) have had a lot to do with this.

However, researchers do not give up on getting all the information about this virus that one day managed to stop the world.

Recently,

, published in

, pointed out why omicron was less virulent than its Wuhan ancestor.

So far, nothing new.

The originality of the development of his theory is that

.

And, of course, suspicions arise.

It is useful?

Insurance?

In the high security laboratories of Boston University (BU) the work of the team of Da-Yuan Chen, Chue Vin Chin, Alexander H. Tavares, Nazimuddin Khan, Hasahn L. Conway and Mohsan Saeed took place, which demonstrated that

.

Specifically, up to 80% less.

This could provide

.

Why is the omicron variant milder?

Focusing on why omicron has found a niche in which to survive and how humans have adapted to it without the emergence of new, very different strains is something that scientists are wondering about.

"

," Saeed maintains.

"

That's how this project started – we wanted to answer that question."

In a secure facility at BU's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), the researchers began by looking at the virus's spike (S) protein, a molecule that helps SARS-CoV-2 invade a cell and begin its infection. , and which is also the target of vaccines.

One of the reasons for the focus on

is that the scientists had determined that it was the

: most of the mutations were concentrated there.

For Saeed, one of the authors of the experiment, as collected in a comment in

, "this is important work that shows that the

protein only has a minimal contribution to the lower pathogenicity of omicron, and that

."

Another of the co-authors, Jonathan Li, notes: "Studies like this are helping us understand which parts of the viral genome affect pathogenesis, something we don't yet know."

Furthermore, he states that, for example, it is not clear why the BA.5 sub-variant easily outperformed BA.

Luis Enjuanes, head of the Coronavirus laboratory at the CSIC National Center for Biotechnology, explains to this medium the usefulness of this type of work, under safe conditions.

"In the laboratories that have the genetic engineering systems to modify these coronaviruses, they can be carried out, of course."

On the other hand, Iñaki Comas, a researcher at the CSIC's Institute of Biomedicine of Valencia, in a brief comment by email, points out that "

But it is important to remember that as a laboratory model it

. Still, it indicates the importance of looking at mutations beyond the S protein."

Is it necessary to study all the new variants of Covid like this?

"

", explains Enjuanes and points out that "in order to find out if one of the genes is responsible for a specific activity, such as virulence, they exchange the S protein between viruses and thus see the role that the current omicron S plays in virulence. It's a very precise way to do it."

Alfredo Corell, professor of Immunology at the University of Valladolid, shows his reluctance.

"

because each time the virus infects a person, mutations begin to occur.

".

Enjuanes, on the contrary, emphasizes that "they are very convenient. In fact, in this

the conclusion they draw is that the spike of the new recombinant virus that they generate, when combining two, is responsible for transmissibility."

Corell's doubts are focused on the following: "If we do this with all the variants that we sequence [those that accumulate the most interest and cases, for example], we will

."

And he emphasizes the risk: "There is no doubt that

because by doing these tests new variants that do not exist in nature may appear and that if they had an escape they could produce... well, So a disaster."

What is the real risk of 'playing' to combine variants in a laboratory in order to know the virus?

At this point, the CSIC virologist explains that the scientific term of gain of function must be applied.

"In the event that

In fact, if it occurs, it must be done before the conclusions found are published."

Doubts and controversy arise if there is a danger in these studies of creating potentially aggressive new viruses.

Urtzi Garaigorta de Dios, from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology of the CNB, states that "according to the variant, if there is evidence that said mutations confer greater pathogenicity to the new variant in vivo, then, indeed, there is a

and therefore Therefore, it

And, of course, the experimentation must be carried out in high-security laboratories (BSL3, in the case there is a vaccine and/or effective treatment; or, BSL4, when there are no effective protective measures)".

Ron Geller, from I2SysBio-University of Valencia-CSIC, who also works with SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory like Garaigorta, comments on the risk and explains the steps in the process: "Different variants are being mixed. That said, if it is are done following the correct biosafety standards (and after approval by all biosafety committees),

".

In addition, Garaigorta recalls that this has caused controversy in the past, especially in the US.

"

from avian strains was proposed for study and characterization in order to be prepared for future influenza pandemics."

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