How does virus mutates?
Answers
Answer:- Viruses are little more than parasitic fragments of RNA or DNA. Despite this, they are astonishingly abundant in number and genetic diversity. We don’t know how many virus species there are, but there could be trillions.
Past viral epidemics have influenced the evolution of all life. In fact, about 8% of the human genome consists of retrovirus fragments. These genetic “fossils” are leftover from viral epidemics our ancestors survived.
COVID-19 reminds us of the devastating impact viruses can have, not only on humans, but also animals and crops. Now for the first time, the disease has been confirmed in a tiger at New York’s Bronx Zoo, believed to have been infected by an employee. Six other tigers and lions were also reported as “showing symptoms”.
According to the BBC, conservation experts think COVID-19 could also threaten animals such as wild gorillas, chimps and orangutans.
While virologists are intensely interested in how viruses mutate and transmit between species – and understand this process to an extent – many gaps in knowledge remain.