Genomic surveillance programs have let scientists track the coronavirus over the course of the pandemic. By testing patient samples, researchers are able to diagnose COVID-19. But they’re also able to use genetic changes in the virus to recreate its travel routes and identify the emergence of new viral variants.

As microbiologists, we examined how quickly the coronavirus genome has mutated during the pandemic and then figured out how quickly these changes led to new cases and rapid disease spread.

By connecting genetic change with the appearance of new clusters of disease, our research suggests how genome surveillance can provide a new early warning of what’s to come. Daily reports on how the virus is evolving could sound the alarm before case numbers explode.

Mutations happen and can be tracked

Starting around 2012, researchers began to develop genome sequencing as a way for public health experts to track infectious diseases. Basically they are able to “read” an organism’s whole genetic code, the long list of A, C, G and T molecules that comprise the blueprints for the proteins that carry out the cell’s functions.

When pathogens infect a host, they reproduce themselves. Changes to the genetic code can happen at this point – like typos you might make copying down a page of text, substituting an A for a T in one spot, for instance. These changes are mutations. They provide new instructions to the next generation that can give them new capabilities – maybe they are better able to move between hosts, survive and initiate outbreaks or cause new symptoms.

Multiple versions of the same organism, but with variations in the genetic code, circulate during a disease outbreak. Depending on how successful they are at infecting new hosts and spreading, various versions can become more or less common.

Historically, public health labs tracked disease outbreaks by the name of the pathogen – SARS, salmonella, Ebola and so on. But as the speed and accuracy of genome sequencing increased, researchers realized that the same pathogen can be divided into many different subpopulations based on genetic variation.

Read:
https://theconversation.com/where-coronavirus-variants-emerge-surges-follow-new-research-sugges