GBE: The new coronavirus may mutate once a week, and the mutation rate is more than 50% higher than previously estimated

Since the new crown pandemic, although the country has taken various measures to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2, due to the entanglement of mutant strains such as delta and lambda, the "exposure rate" is increasing, making the global epidemic fall into again and again.
In crisis
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Previously, related studies have shown that the mutation rate of the new coronavirus is once every two weeks.
However, recently, a scientific research team from the University of Bath and the University of Edinburgh published an article in the "Genome Biology and Evolution" entitled "Causes and consequences of" The new study of purifying selection on SARS-CoV-2" seems to be a bit chilling
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The genome of a virus is not static during its proliferation process.
In the process of its replication, the genetic material will replicate "errors", and there is a risk of mutation at all times
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In this latest study, researchers estimated the ratio of four-fold degenerate sites (4DTv) with different nucleotide composition to assess whether a genome-wide replication event occurred in the genome, and used these nucleotide-dependent ratios to infer The true potential mutation rate, thereby inferring the rate of deletion mutations
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Previously, Russia reported that 18 mutated new coronaviruses have been detected in a woman with lymphoma, confirming for the first time that the long-term presence of new coronaviruses in the organism will cause a large number of mutations, which also warns us if the body’s immune system is difficult.
When the virus is controlled, it must be isolated, because the new coronavirus may survive in the human body for more than a few weeks, and it may evolve and promote new variants, just like the birth of the alpha mutant strain
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Original source:

Atahualpa Castillo Morales, Alan M Rice, Alexander T Ho, et al.