I previously wrote about the COVID-19 virus detected in wild deer and how laboratory studies showing calves infected with the virus did not develop the disease in the Jan. 24 edition of WLJ. There are other characteristics of COVID-19 that may interest WLJ readers.
You are probably familiar with GMO (genetically modified organism) crops, in which a plant or animal is genetically engineered (bioengineered) with genes (i.e., DNA) inserted or manipulated to change a trait. GMO crops have been available since the 1990s and are a large part of today’s food supply.
Of course, people have genetically manipulated plants and animals since the beginning of agriculture thousands of years ago with selective breeding, using the natural genetic variation in plants and animals. Bioengineering holds the promise of more effective and faster selection by inserting or manipulating genes for important traits to create GMOs.
The goals of traditional breeding and bioengineering are basically the same: higher crop yields; better nutrition; insect, disease and herbicide resistance; and other desirable traits. GMO crops are now a large percentage of some of the crops grown in the U.S., including soybeans, corn, sugar beets and cotton.
GMO animals can have improved traits such as growth rate, meat quality, milk composition, disease resistance and wool production. Some human genes have been inserted into animals, which is called transgenics: when genes are moved between species. For example, the human gene for lactoferrin was inserted into a bull, who then sired eight calves that inherited this gene. The lysozyme gene in goats was modified to code for the human lysozyme gene to produce milk with lysozyme that fights harmful bacteria in people.
The DNA of the dominant polled gene was inserted into a dairy bull (with gene editing), who sired six polled calves at the University of California, Davis. The potential to make bioengineered people is also real and may help cure hereditary diseases, but it has serious bioethical concerns and the potential for misuse.
What do GMOs have to do with COVID-19? A theory regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 disease, is that it was derived from a virus found in bats that was bioengineered in a laboratory to be infectious to humans. Another theory is that it simply moved from bats to people.
Recent science provides support for the theory that the original strain of the COVID-19 virus originated from a bioengineered virus. Although viruses are not usually considered living organisms because they don’t reproduce on their own (they must use an infected host’s cells to reproduce), I suppose the SARS-CoV-2 virus could be considered a GMO if this theory is correct.
Originating from bioengineering in a lab is now considered a plausible theory for the origin of the COVID-19 virus, and it somehow got out of the lab and infected people around the world. The origin of the new COVID-19 omicron variant is also being studied. Omicron appeared suddenly and rapidly replaced the COVID-19 delta variant worldwide. Two recent studies show the omicron variant is very different from earlier COVID-19 variants, with about 50 new mutations in the RNA of the COVID-19 gene for the spike protein and other genes.
These studies show there has apparently been strong selection for infectivity and immune evasion in the omicron variant. One study suggests the omicron variant developed enhanced infectivity and reduced immune response within human hosts. The other study suggests that COVID-19 moved from humans to mice, in which the omicron mutation developed, and then moved from mice back to humans (like the theory of the original COVID-19 virus moving from bats to humans).
Another possibility that occurred to me is that, as with the original COVID-19 virus, omicron was bioengineered with gain-of-function mutations. This theory is consistent with omicron data showing it is a highly mutated variant with increased infectivity and immune evasion.
The risk of pathogens escaping from laboratories is certainly important for humans, as the COVID-19 pandemic shows. This is also a potential concern for crops and livestock, and we should be sure our government, university and industry agriculture research laboratories working with viruses, bacteria and other pathogens are secure. — Dr. Matthew Cronin
(Matthew Cronin is a scientist with Northwest Biology Company LLC in Bozeman, MT, and was a research professor at the University of Alaska.)
Viana et al. 2022. Rapid epidemic expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in southern Africa. Nature. Published online 7 January 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04411-y
Wei et al. 2021. Evidence for a mouse origin of the SARS-CpV-2 Omicron variant. Journal of Genetics and Genomics. Published online 24 December 2021. main.pdf (nih.gov)
Director of National Intelligence. Summary of Assessment on COVID-19 Origins (2021), Unclassified-Summary-of-Assessment-on-COVID-19-Origins 2021.pdf
Balamurali et al. 2022. MSH3 homology ad potential recombination link to SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site, Frontiers in Virology, Emerging and Re-emerging Viral Diseases. Frontiers | MSH3 Homology and Potential Recombination Link to SARS-CoV-2 Furin Cleavage Site | Virology (frontiersin.org)
Breggin and Breggin. 2021. COVID-19 and the Global Predators. Lake Edge Press, Ithaca, New York.
Doudna and Sternberg. 2017. A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution. Mariner Books Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, New York.
Young et al. 2020. Genomic and phenotypic analyses of six offspring of a genome-edited hornless bull. Nature Biotechnology 38:225–232.
USDA on GMO. GMOs 101: Your Basic Questions Answered (usda.gov)
GMO basic information.Genetically modified animal – Wikipedia
