Omicron on the rise as Covid-19 mutatant emerges

On November 25, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) of South Africa issued a statement that a new coronavirus strain, known as B.1.1.529, has been detected in South Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) has upgraded the new coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 to Variant of Concern (VOC); its systematic designation is Omicron.

        On November 27, a team of researchers from the Children's Hospital in Rome, Italy, released the world's first images of the new coronavirus mutant strain Omicron.

The images show that the Omicron strain possesses more stinging protein mutations than the new coronavirus delta strain. These mutations are diverse and mostly located in regions that interact with human cells.
       The Omicron strain has attracted significant attention because it contains more mutations than the Delta strain that ravaged the world (only 16 mutations), and contains more than 50 mutations, including 32 mutations in the stinger protein alone. The stinger protein is a key component of the virus, through which neocoronaviruses bind to the ACE2 protein on the surface of human cells to enter the cell and cause infection. At the same time, most existing neo-coronaviruses also attack the virus by training the body's immune cells to recognize the spinosin protein. Mutations in the stinger protein affect the ability of the virus to infect cells and spread, and also make it more difficult for immune cells to attack the pathogen.
        The emergence of the new coronavirus mutant strain, Omicron, has attracted focused attention worldwide and has had an impact on people's economy as well as their health and safety. As a professional manufacturer of in vitro diagnostic reagents, Heavy Chain Biology has been continuously paying attention to the situation of the new coronavirus mutant strain. The NP protein mutations of Omicron are P13L, Δ31-33, R203K, G204R. . Further experimental confirmation is in progress.
        Omicron mutant strain will bring new vaccine challenges, whether the serum after current vaccine immunization can inhibit the binding of Omicron's S protein and ACE2 is very meaningful for this evaluation, heavy chain biology of Omicron mutant strain RBD will be released soon, stay tuned!