If OM has been out there for a while, could it recombine with Delta ??

Take care all 😷😉💉

carbon20 wrote: If OM has been out there for a while, could it recombine with Delta ?? Take care all 😷😉💉

Hi Carbon!  I've been researching this intently, as I shared your concern.  I found this article:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-coronavirus-is-mutating-but-what-determines-how-quickly - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-coronavirus-is-mutating-but-what-determines-how-quickly

Influenza is made up of eight genetic segments, which can be rearranged—a process called

reassortment—if multiple viruses infect a single cell to replicate at the same time. As the viral

progeny are packaged into their protein capsules, the RNA segments from the parent

viruses can be mixed and matched like viral Legos. This process can cause rapid shifts in the

viral function. For example, reassortments of flu strains circulating in pigs, birds, and humans led to the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic.

Unlike influenza, however, coronaviruses possess no physical segmentation to undergo

reassortment. Coronaviruses can experience some shifts in function through a process

known as recombination, when segments of one viral genome are spliced onto another by the

enzyme making the viral copy. But researchers are still working to determine how important

this process is for SARS-CoV-2’s evolution.

(the article above then links to this article)

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.21.427579v1.abstract

My quick answer is that it does not appear that Delta and Omicron will "reassort" in the manner that flu viruses do, where two viruses infect one host cell and swap viral genetic material ("viral sex" is how one researcher once described it to me!).  

However, coronaviruses have not undergone nearly as much research as flu viruses, so we are learning all the time.  RNA viruses are prone to many mutations since they are very "sloppy" in their replication, the National Geographic article discusses this. 

Be safe, everyone!  Omicron is not the variant I am worried about, but a later variant yet to surface.  Humanity represents a huge petri-dish for these viruses, and only vaccination will show us the way forward. 

It's important to emphasise that these discoveries are brand new, and further investigations are essential, however the latest clues about the nature of Omicron include a concerning finding.

When the virus is studied from another direction — by exploring the nucleocapsid, another viral protein which contributes to viral replication, rather than the spike protein — Palmer says her team found Omicron may have been created by what's called a "recombination" – a supercharged love child of the early Alpha variant plus Delta, something that has not been found in SARS-CoV-2 until now.

"We're very, very concerned," Palmer says, relaying the discovery with a calm and measured voice that belies its seriousness. "It indicates that possibly we could see that variants can recombine and if somebody is infected with two variants there could be a recombination that could lead to a more pathogenic and infectious virus."