Australian researchers published new findings on Tuesday, revealing how rapidly SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, evolved, offering crucial insights that could aid in forecasting and combating future variants.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales tracked the genetic evolution of SARS-CoV-2 over five years by serially passaging 11 samples from nine major variants.

This included Alpha, Delta, and Omicron to observe how the virus mutates over time, a statement from UNSW Sydney revealed.

By studying the virus in a controlled environment, researchers could observe its natural evolutionary pathways without the unpredictable variables of real-world infections.

The study’s lead author, Charles Foster, from UNSW’s School of Biomedical Sciences, said.

This approach helps anticipate which mutations may arise next, allowing scientists and public health officials to better prepare vaccines and treatments, Mr Foster said.

“By growing the virus over many generations in a controlled lab environment, we can observe how it evolves without the influence of the immune system or treatments.

“That gives us a clearer picture of its natural evolutionary pathways,” he said.

The study found that SARS-CoV-2 kept evolving and accumulating mutations even after 100 generations in the lab, with some mutations repeatedly emerging across different strains, a pattern known as convergent evolution, the release revealed.

Many of the mutations were found in the spike protein, which helps the virus infect human cells, but other parts of the virus also changed, and sometimes even more quickly.

Importantly, some of these mutations are already known to make certain vaccines less effective, said the study published in the Journal of Virology.

“We’ve made all of our sequencing data freely available so other researchers can dig into it, compare it with clinical samples, and hopefully uncover even more about how this virus evolves,” Mr Foster said.

He added that understanding these evolutionary patterns was crucial for staying ahead of COVID-19 and preparing for whatever comes next.

(Xinhua/NAN)