SARS-CoV-2 Delta (The Virus from India) Loaded
The recent COVID-19 pandemic profile is changing, and now it is mostly dominated by the coronavirus strain called delta (B.1.617.2) that caused massive problems in India and other countries. We loaded its genome with the gene annotation to our web portal. Now you can see the precise differences between this, a more transmissive variant, and the original SARS-CoV-2 virus from Wuhan. Just open the two genomes in Persephone and run the instant BLAST comparison (bookmark). Persephone will show where the sequences are identical and where the mutations are. You can count how many changes the sequence of the Delta strain has accumulated (about 40) and see that it is consistent with the rate of the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutation of one change per two weeks (if you assume a 1.5 year period for the genetic drift).
Interestingly, out of 8 mutations in the spike protein, only one is silent, which does not change the amino acid residue. The other seven, including the one in the furin-cleavage site, unique to SARS-CoV-2, result in the altered protein sequence.
Remember that you can upload FASTA sequences to the web portal and run this comparative analysis yourself, in real time.