Scientists have found a new mutation in the so-called "stealth omicron" - a new subtype BA.2 "omicron" strain of coronavirus. Izvestia writes about this, referring to the report of specialists.

According to the researchers, the changes affected the ORF3a protein, which causes inflammatory reactions in cells and is also responsible for the movement of the virus inside the human cell.

The new variant of subspecies BA.2 is reported to account for about 24% of all infections in Denmark.

Mikhail Bolkov, a researcher at the Department of Immunochemistry at the Ural Federal University, explained to the publication that this protein plays a role in moving the virus into and out of the cell.

“It affects autophagy in the cell (the ability to take proteins back down to amino acids). There are such bubbles, chemical tanks in which unnecessary proteins are destroyed. And viruses deceive the enzymes in these vesicles and use them as containers for moving inside the cell, ”the expert said.

Earlier, an infectious disease doctor, candidate of medical sciences Andrey Pozdnyakov named the main symptoms of "stealth omicron".

Prior to this, researchers from Denmark determined that a subspecies of the omicron strain BA.2 is even more contagious than its predecessor. BA.2 or "stealth omicron" was discovered in Algeria in January.

bbabo.Net