It's not clear if the Omicron coronaviruses variant can evade existing vaccines.
Many of the new to science mutations it carries are concerning, according to experts.
The Omicron variant is scaring scientists.
There are potentially dangerous places where there are changes.
The Omicron variant has a lot of changes to the spikeProtein.
The main target of the COVID-19 vaccine is the spike protein, which is used to bind coronaviruses to cells in the human body.
The changes to the Omicron are clustering in areas that could help the coronaviruses evade or become more infectious.
This can be seen in the graphic below of the Omicron spikeProtein, where the changes to theProtein are shown as colored dots. There are two colors: blue and red.
The changes tend to cluster in three areas. The two sites where the antibodies are binding are the ones that block the virus.
The part of the spike that binding the cell is called theRBD.
The furin cleavage site undergoes a chemical reaction before the virus can enter the cells.
The N-terminal domain is a part of the protein.
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An annotated schematic of a molecule.
The Institute of Molecular Biotechnology is headed by Elling.
The NTD and theRBD domain are known to bind neutralizing antibodies, according to Dr. Elling.
The Omicron cluster has its mutations in these two domains.
Some of the changes could increase the virus' ability to cause disease.
According to CoVariants.org, the transmissibility of the coronaviruses has been shown to be increased by certain alterations to the FCS.
The Delta variant of the virus was more likely to spread because of theRBD's quirks, as Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told Insider.
There are many new genes in science.
Many of the Omicron's genes haven't been seen before.
The color-coded list shows the types of genes scientists are looking at.
Jeffrey Barrett is on November 25, 2021.
Each row has a different change. Here's what the colors mean.
Omicron could have the same worrying characteristics as those other variant because of the nine mutations that are already shared. Delta is thought to be able to escape immune responses from vaccinations.
The three mutations that have not been seen in other versions of concern could make the virus more transmissible or better at escaping immunity. Elling said that a change in the 484 amino acid on the "E484A" could enhance the ability of the virus to get to the cells.
The green variant has been shared by many other variant since early 2020.
Lab data suggests that these new changes could increase the ability of the virus to escape immunity or cause a person to be bitten.
"These are rare or never before 11 of the 13 genes that are in the blue", he said. Scientists don't know what the changes will do.
A scientist is hopeful that existing vaccines will work.
It's too early to know the effect of the new mutations because of how the Omicron likely arose.
As the population grows, the viruses evolve. Immune reactions put a lot of selection pressure on the virus, so any remaining changes probably make it better.
The Omicron variant is likely not what happened.
He said it was not a descendant of Delta or Alpha. He said it is similar to the Beta variant, which is quite a long way back in the evolutionary route.
The coronaviruses evolved inside an immunocompromised person who had caught a variant and carried it for a long time. The weaker the immune system, the less selection pressure the virus would have.
A previous case study showed that an immunocompromised woman carried the coronaviruses for at least 216 days in a row, accumulating over 30 mutations.
It's too early to tell if existing vaccines can work against Omicron, but he's confident they will.
It was reassuring to know that [Omicron] had a lot of the same changes that we have seen before. I think the vaccines will work against it.
