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Scientists from the Bioinformatics Laboratory, an institution of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), specialized in scientific computing, sequenced 180 genomes of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), in samples in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The mutations were found in greater concentration in the capital, in Cabo Frio, Niterói and Duque de Caxias. The researchers have already communicated the discovery to the Ministry of Health and the Health Secretariat of the State of Rio. From now on, the group and the communicated health agencies are trying to understand if this new subspecies is more aggressive and if it has a greater capacity contamination of which the strain is already known and which has been circulating since the beginning of the pandemic.
The work was carried out in partnership with researchers from the Molecular Virology Laboratory of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Noel Nutels Central Public Health Laboratory, and the Health Secretaries of Maricá and Rio. explains that according to the analyzes, the appearance of this new lineage occurred in July 2020.
Five mutations were identified that characterize a possible new strain originating in B.1.1.28 -a subspecies of the coronavirus- that was already circulating in Brazil at the beginning of the year.
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According to Ana Tereza, so far, there is no indication that this strain is more transmissible or that it could interfere with the effectiveness of the vaccines that are being developed. “However, the importance of continuous genomic surveillance studies is necessary to analyze the spread of this new strain and identify new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the state of Rio de Janeiro and in Brazil.”
The analyzes indicate that the B.1.1.28 line appears as emergent, being identified in 38 of the 180 sequenced genomes. On the other hand, the researchers note that the B.1.1.33 strain (another subspecies of SARS-CoV-2) is in decline.
The work was funded by Faperj, Ministry of Science and Technology and presented on December 20 to MedRxiv.
