The “Deltacron” variant, consisting of half Delta, half Omicron variant, originally appeared in France before appearing in the United States. When this hybrid virus, scientifically called recombinant, first appeared, it was reduced to a laboratory mix. The two strains were mixed in a petri dish, not in the real world. But now, just two months later, Delta-Omicron recombinants have appeared in real life, and an article published as a preprint on the BioRxiv server Monday last week offers some evidence.
“Given the divergence of Delta and Omicron genomes, as well as the known immune escape properties of Omicron, a Delta-Omicron recombinant strain could change the landscape of vaccine and therapeutic efficacy,” explains the paper.
The article continues: “In this report, we have identified candidate Delta-Omicron recombinant genomes from the CDC’s national genomic surveillance… That these genomes are most likely the result of recombination within the Spike gene, which contains common substitutions in Delta lineages and Omicron lineages. We show you.”
It may be important to remember at this point that the emergence of recombinants is not surprising. Like other viruses, the coronavirus mutates constantly and, as explained by preprint co-author Tom Peacock, “when two related viruses infect the same cell (i.e., during a coinfection), the viral replication machine can accidentally switch from one genome to the other, resulting in a mixed genome.”
Basically, there’s no need to panic when headlines suggest that Delta-Omicron recombinants are extra dangerous due to their purely hybrid nature. COVID-19 has been experiencing these changes since the beginning. In fact, an Alpha-Delta recombinant emerged in October and went virtually undetected outside of the virology community.
Looking at the key features of the new virus assembly, there were no previously unseen extra amino mutations in the Omicron variant at the receptor binding site (the part of the Spike protein that attaches to human cells and allows the virus particle to enter). That’s probably good news, Peacock said.
Preprint states, “Despite detection for 6 weeks, the number of cases from these hybrid Spike recombinant viruses remains low,” continues: “In addition, most cases were detected in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. ”
But recombinant variants will not disappear anytime soon. We may have been lucky with this particular hybrid variant, but researchers know the next one could be much worse.
The article states, “Emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are closely characterized and monitored through national genomic surveillance. The potential public health implications of new variants emerging from recombination should be considered. Taken together, research involving laboratory and bioinformatic components, such as those presented here, is critical to accurately identifying and monitoring these viruses.”
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