Two U.S. scientists who have been studying gain-of-function (GOF) models for flu and coronaviruses have just published their research on a preprint site that indicates they may have created a GOF version of SARS-CoV-2.
Gain-of-function studies involve increasing the capacity of a pathogen to cause illness. The method is controversial because it can also risk new viruses leaking out of laboratories and into the population.
In the latest research by Ralph Baric and Yoshihiro Kawaoka, et al., data show that they engineered SARS-CoV-2 variants with a different virus and found that it could produce “significantly faster droplet transmission” that “enhances infectivity, replication fitness and early transmission.” The work was carried out on hamsters, but the implications are that gene variants and virus mutations can occur in human diseases, thereby showing a need to study such possibilities in humans, the scientists said in their summary.
“Our data support the critical need to periodically review SARS-CoV-2 contemporary isolates across the globe and identify the emergence of new variants with increased transmission and pathogenesis and/or altered antigenicity,” the scientists said. The findings suggest that continued research with the variants support “continued development of existing vaccine formulations.”
SOURCE: BioRxiv Preprint September 29, 2020