School of Foreign Service Toggle sub-navigation.College of Arts & Sciences Toggle sub-navigation.Colleges & Schools Toggle sub-navigation.Academic Regulations Toggle sub-navigation.Financial Assistance to Meet College Expenses.Expenses and Financial Assistance Toggle sub-navigation.A group of coronaviruses that share the same inherited set of distinctive mutations is called a variant.
Scientists can track mutations as they are passed down through a lineage, a branch of the coronavirus family tree. When an infected human cell assembles new coronaviruses, it occasionally makes tiny copying errors called mutations. May help the virus bind more tightly to cells.Īppears in several lineages, including B.1.617.2 (Delta). May help the virus avoid some kinds of antibodies.Īppears in several lineages, including B.1.351 (Beta) and P.1 (Gamma). Helps the virus bind more tightly to human cells.Īppears in several lineages. Mutations that may help the coronavirus spreadĪppeared in early 2020 and spread around the world.Ī defining mutation in several lineages, including B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta) and P.1 (Gamma). Within a month it was dominant in the U.S.Įmerged in India in late 2020 and spread around the world.ĭelta carries the L452R spike mutation, among others.