DNA and the impact it has on COVID-19

 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the mercurial nature of the coronavirus has been on display. Some people may receive mild, cold-like illnesses or even have no symptoms at all, while other people become very ill and may die from COVID-19. It is hard to predict who may succumb to this problem, but according to an article researchers are searching for genetic clues that may lead to answers. Some studies that have recently been tested, have found that versions of genes inherited from Neandertals may protect against COVID-19, while other genetic heirlooms passed down from Neandertals can up the risk of the disease and severity. An international study was conducted to examine and study DNA from more than 28,000 COVID-19 patients and almost 600,000 people who had not been infected that confirmed their inheritance from Neandertals is involved in COVID-19 susceptibility. This study had also confirmed a previous finding that people with type O blood may have some protection against getting infected, but exactly what accounts for the protection is still not known. People with rare variants in a gene called toll-like receptor 7 or TLR7 are5.3 times more likely to get severe COVID-19 than those who don’t have the variants. TLR&’s protein is involved in signaling the immune system that a virus has invaded. 

This article was very interesting to read. It made me question if my relatives are descendants of Neandertals or not. Although this article was very interesting, I still believe researchers need to research more on this topic as COVID-19 seems to be a virus that will unfortunately never go away, and possibly find better solutions to protect ourselves from this disease better.