Sergey Netesov, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, virologist and head of the laboratory of bionanotechnology, microbiology and virology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Novosibirsk State University, told socialbites.ca that the flu is the fastest mutating virus in the world.
“I would put hepatitis C in second place, it shares its place with HIV. The third is the coronavirus,” said Netesov.
The flu changes quickly because it has a fragmented genome: it has eight nucleic acid segments.
“This means that each gene can change independently of the others. Second, the surface protein hemagglutinin (which is an analogue of the coronavirus’ pointed S-protein) is arranged to have protruding sites where it intentionally induces an immune response. And its RNA polymerase, essentially “And it turns out that when a virus replicates in a person, several hundred different closely related variants emerge at the same time. The set of populations that enter and leave a person is different,” the virologist explained.
Hepatitis C and HIV are also highly variable. Since these are chronic infections, they develop in a single person and therefore the person develops resistance to the drug.
“The ability of RNA polymerase to mutate in the coronavirus appears to be less advanced than in the flu virus. And it has only one piece in its genome, which reduces its ability to change,” Netesov concluded.
Read more about the deadliest, cunning and useful viruses report Netesov “Newspaper.Ru”
Formerly a doctor listed infectious diseases that can be transmitted at school.