Opinion | To put an end to the pandemic …

Every time we start to see the light, a mutant who shakes our certainties and shatters our hopes points to the crown. When you think about it, there is a great lesson in humility to be learned from this vulnerability in the face of this invisible force that is wreaking havoc on the planet.

I must tell you about this microbial time which is also the strength of pathogens in front of our protection systems. A study carried out by the Laboratory of adaptation and pathogenesis of micro-organisms (LAPM) of Grenoble had shown that in 24 years of monitoring their reproduction, bacteria had produced 55,000 generations. Which is in human time, where a generation lasts 25 years, the equivalent of two million years of evolution. Which means that a year in the life of this bacterial species, Escherichia coli, is equivalent to nearly 84,000 human years. However, 84,000 years ago, there were other species of humans, including Neanderthals. Variants that ended up bowing out during the mutant’s odyssey Homo sapiens who was stronger. Between Omicron and Delta too, history will tell us very quickly who will win the competition for the occupation of the biosphere.

One year in the life of a bacterium or a virus, it is eternity which gives the opportunity to mutate abundantly and generate these adaptive variants which terrorize us. In other words, when we take out from our laboratories an antibiotic molecule or a chemical product whose ability to exterminate 100% of germs is touted in these advertisements where we spray kitchen tables or sofas, the bacteria laugh, talking about the great claim. of the human species. In addition to their gigantic experience of more than three billion years, these microbes also have the advantage of time to bypass all obstacles in their path. In just a few weeks, bacteria can see a mutant appear that resists the new molecule released from our pharmacies. As nature has also endowed them with an efficient system of skills sharing by exchanging circular pieces of DNA called plasmids, this new resistance can spread rapidly in their colonies. Time is therefore an ally of this rapid evolution of microbes which cause these planetary panics with each discovery of a new mutant of SARS-CoV-2.

Reproducing for a virus is a bit like photocopying itself in the cells that it parasitizes. Unfortunately, by dint of photocopying, it happens that small errors change the meaning of the message in certain places of its genome.

If the change is minor, the content of the message remains intact. There are therefore no big differences between the photocopy and the original. We are also lucky, because unlike other infectious agents such as influenza viruses, the one responsible for COVID-19 mutates more slowly. In question, it has a repair enzyme which makes it possible, up to a certain limit, to correct these small photocopying errors. Let’s say that this enzyme, poetically called an exoribonuclease, corrects words and adjusts punctuation to keep the meaning of the original message more or less intact.

Unfortunately for us, sometimes a major mutation significantly changes the genetic code of the virus and, therefore, the way it infects us. When this change – due to chance – persists and allows the microbe to better adapt to its environment, natural selection triumphs and Darwin smiles in his grave. A mutation can make a virus more dangerous, but can also harm the survival of the transformed microbe in front of a stronger than itself. Thus, for a short time, the world has been holding its breath in the face of the current battle between Omicron and Delta. Fortunately, Doctor Anthony Fauci is almost adamant: Omicron is no more dangerous than Delta. His single statement made the stock markets jump for joy. Which makes him, by the way, a person who, for the duration of the pandemic, should be subject to financial market authorities.

It therefore appears that the new variant does not kill more than its predecessor, which has taken up all the space. This news sparked temporary sighs of planetary relief. For how long ? Nobody knows, but it really has to end and I have a proposal in this direction. We’re going to ask Justin Trudeau to get us out of this nightmare. Yes, I know he still has his arms full with the chaos playing out at airports and the thousands of Canadians he hastily walled up in African countries, but he also has a duty to end the pandemic. Why ? During the last election campaign, he repeatedly said that the Liberal Party was the only one capable of ending the pandemic. Now that he’s been elected, it’s time to deliver on his mystifying promise. I said mystifying, because the most Justin can do is help him weather the storms that follow one another better. To be able to end the pandemic, it would have been necessary, among other things, for Justin to integrate into SARS-CoV-2 a program to correct all photocopying errors during its reproduction in human cells. In other words, Justin should exorubonucleize. We wish him the best of luck.