The Different Covers of the Smash Hit SARS-CoV-2
Feature | Jethro Ramel
“A scary new variant has developed in Brazil.”
“The three SARS-CoV-2 variants are now present in all cities of Metro Manila.”
I bet you all have read about such dread-inducing articles in social media or news outlets. And I bet some of you are baffled as to what variants are and why we should care? In order to easily understand why and how viruses mutate into different variants, let’s take a look at the process of making cover songs.
A cover song is a rendition of a song done by someone other than the original singer or producer. Sometimes covers are done faithfully, with little to no changes to a song’s structure; other times, cover songs can be drastically different from their predecessor with different instruments, rhythm, and sometimes even new genres. The same goes for virus variants. Some have mutations only in a few areas and can be considered similar while some have compounded mutations leading to entirely different structures and behaviors.
But why does this happen? Let’s look at cover songs first. Artists make cover songs to pay homage to the original version, sometimes to have an extra song in their setlist, or just for the fun of it. These multitudes of reasons make the creation of cover songs unpredictable and spontaneous. Once again, the same can be said for viruses. While there may be an underlying process of RNA instability and accumulating errors in the production process, there still does not exist a definite answer to why viruses, and living things, mutate. They simply do. On the other hand, how they mutate is a question we can, and should, answer.
There are currently three variants of concern (VOC) for SARS-CoV-2: the UK Variant, South African Variant, and Brazilian Variant. These variants have developed multiple mutations that have compounded with each other to create more significant changes, but there are two mutations we can focus on to understand their consequences.
The first mutation we will look at is the S:N501Y mutation, which is shared by all three VOCs. Complicated name aside, this mutation is focused on the receptor-binding domain. We can relate this to how catchy a song can be. Depending on the structure, a song can either be so memorable that it gives you the last song syndrome for days or be forgotten even after just hearing it. The more appealing songs get shared more frequently, thus, are the ones more people listen to and remember. Songs like Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog and Cidney Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun are universal classics, but a lot of people don’t know that they’re both covers. This catchiness, or transmissibility for a more scientific term, is what the S:N501Y mutation gives to a variant. That’s why those viruses that have them are all now considered VOCs. They are the Hound Dog’s and Girls Just Want to Have Fun’s of the variants — versions that can more easily be global in reach.
We then consider the S:E484K mutation which, this time, shared only between South Africa and Brazil variants and targeted at the spike protein of a virus. A spike protein is how your body detects viruses, a change to this is like a shift in the instrumentation, rhythm, or general sound of a song. Some covers differ so much from their original that they sound like completely new creations, fooling the listener into thinking they’ve never encountered it before. This mutation can allow a virus to evade the vaccine immunity we are trying to build, making it one to look out for more.
Of course, there are even more variants and mutations out there but given these important points, what now? Just knowing about these varying mutations will do us little good. We should invest more in research to strengthen our understanding of this virus, making sure that our COVID-19 programs and protocols adapt accordingly. We must not rely on unsustainable band-aid solutions and instead plan long-term solutions that will take us out of this pandemic. And it is of utmost importance that we put science and compassion to heart during this challenge we face. We don’t want to be outperformed and forgotten, do we?
References:
Emma B. Hodcroft. 2021. “CoVariants: SARS-CoV-2 Mutations and Variants of Interest.” https://covariants.org/
Haseltine, W. A. (2021, April 5). A New Variant In The Philippines. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/.../third-generation-covid-19.../...
HuffPost. (2017, December 7). Cover Songs More Famous Than Originals: 20 Tunes That Fit The Bill (VIDEOS). HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/.../cover-songs-more-famous-than...
James Hadfield, Colin Megill, Sidney M Bell, John Huddleston, Barney Potter, Charlton Callender, Pavel Sagulenko, Trevor Bedford, Richard A Neher, Nextstrain: real-time tracking of pathogen evolution, Bioinformatics, Volume 34, Issue 23, 01 December 2018, Pages 4121–4123, https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/bty407
Shah, D. (2021, February 22). An expert explains variants. Wellcome. https://wellcome.org/news/expert-explains-variants
Zimmer, K. (2021, February 15). A Guide to Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants. The Scientist Magazine®. https://www.the-scientist.com/.../a-guide-to-emerging...
