SORESINA – A technique developed in Italy allows us to understand why the Omicron variant is able to transmit itself more easily than the other variants. The same research, published in the journal Molecules, allows us to predict the effects of possible new variants of the virus on the immune defenses already developed and indicates that there are still many human antibodies capable of recognizing the Omicron variant.
The study is the result of the collaboration between the Institute of Food Sciences of the National Research Council (Isa-Cnr) of Avellino and the Department of Chemistry and Biology Zambelli of the University of Salerno and the researchers involved were coordinated, as well as by Angelo Facchiano (Cnr-Isa), from Anna Marabottiprofessor of the University of Salerno born and raised in Soresina.
Together, with extraordinary work in its development, used a bioinformatics technique to simulate how the virus’s molecular claw, the Spike protein, attaches to the Ace2 receptor found on human cells.
The bioinformatics procedure developed, in fact, can now be used to simulate the substitutions of amino acids present in new variants.
Over 150 molecular models of the link between the Spike protein of the SarsCoV2 virus and human cells were used in the research. In this way it has been «demonstrated that many antibodies already present in our organism can also recognize the Spike protein of the Omicron variant, although with some differences in the molecular interactions that can be formed – observes Facchiano -. By also studying the mechanism of interaction with the Ace2 receptor, we have highlighted some differences with respect to the Spike protein of the previous variants, offering a possible interpretation of Omicron’s greater ease of transmission ».
According to the authors of the research, the results obtained could have important implications also in view of the appearance of new variants. The bioinformatics procedure developed, in fact, can now be used to simulate the substitutions of amino acids present in new variants and in a short time give a forecast of the effects in terms of ability to counteract a possible new variant of the virus.
