There have been at least six strains of SARS-CoV-2 that have been identified since the beginning of the pandemic. Researchers are always concerned with the mutability of viruses as they progress through a population, and even though SARS-CoV-2 has shown it can mutate, the good news is it is showing little variability.
Researchers at the University of Bologna analyzed 48,635 coronavirus genomes isolated by researchers from all over the world. This study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. The low variability in the mutations observed, with approximately seven mutations per sample, suggests a viable vaccine can be manufactured.
"The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is presumably already optimized to affect human beings, and this explains its low evolutionary change", explains Federico Giorgi, a researcher at Unibo and coordinator of the study. "This means that the treatments we are developing, including a vaccine, might be effective against all the virus strains".
There are six strains of coronavirus at the moment. The original strain is referred to as the L strain, first appearing in Wuhan in December 2019. The first mutation was the S strain and first appeared in early 2020. Since mid-January 2020, the strains V and G were identified. To date strain, G is the most widespread, which further mutated into strains GR and GH at the end of February 2020.
"Strain G and its related strains GR and GH are by far the most widespread, representing 74% of all gene sequences we analyzed", says Giorgi. "They present four mutations, two of which are able to change the sequence of the RNA polymerase and Spike proteins of the virus. This characteristic probably facilitates the spread of the virus".
In addition to the six main coronavirus strains, scientists have identified some infrequent mutations which are being monitored.