Experts say that the new version of the Omicron coronaviruses will be harder to track because of its genetics.
The new line called BA.2 has been spotted seven times across South Africa, Australia, and Canada.
Francois Balloux, the director of the University College London Genetics Institute, told The Guardian that the original Omicron line is different to the one that is called BA.2 today.
The main way the variant has been tracked so far is because it doesn't have the characteristic S-gene dropout mutation.
He said that the two lineages may behave differently.
The main line of Omicron has been named BA.1. B. 1.1.529 was redefined to encompass both groups.
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The change to encompass the full phylogeny is not cause for concern.
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Theo Sanderson is on December 7, 2021.
The change will make tracking harder, but it's nothing to be scared of yet, said a clinician and computational biologist in a twit.
David Stuart is a professor at Oxford University.
"I don't think there's any reason to think that the new outlier is any more of a threat than the form of Omicron that's knocking around at the moment in the UK," he said.
He said it is early.
The variant should still be picked up by the tests, but might not be able to distinguish it from others.
Andrew Rambaut, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK, reviewed the Omicron mutations in BA.2 and said that it carries many of the defining mutations.
Dozens of the same genes that appear on BA.1 have been dropped.
Insider previously reported that scientists were using the 69/70del mutation on the S gene as a quick way to track Omicron.
If someone is carrying the coronaviruses, they can be tested for different markers to see if they are carrying it.
An S-gene dropout is one of the markers that won't work when someone with the BA.1 lineage of Omicron gets a test.
This was an easy way to separate Omicron from other versions that wouldn't cause this S-gene dropout.
This likely won't be the case for the BA.2 lineage. Scientists will have to rely on more time-consuming and less widespread sequencing to identify it.
According to the Financial Times, that means that "there may be more Omicron than we think."
She told that outlet that she doesn't think there is a large hidden burden from BA.2.
Even with the new lineage, the tests should still be able to detect if someone has the coronaviruses.
We can't use this cut to find Omicron cases for BA.2 only. She said that the test still works.
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