A new type of coronavirus variant is a mixture of omicron and delta strains

A new type of coronavirus variant¹ is a mixture of omicron and delta² strains

　　Transcript³

　　A new coronavirus variant is a bit like Frankenstein, with the head of omicron and the body of delta. Scientists are eager to learn more about the origins of hybrid⁴ variants⁵ like "deltacron."

　　STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

　　Scientists are watching a new coronavirus variant - a mixture of the omicron and delta strains. Some call it deltacron. This new variant is very rare, we're told, and in its current state, it seems unlikely to cause a problem. But its creation gives scientists insight into how and why the COVID-19 virus changes so quickly. NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff has the story.

　　MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF, BYLINE⁶: Officially, Scott Nguyen is a bioinformatician at Washington D.C.'s Public Health Laboratory. But he and a handful of other scientists around the world have an interesting side hobby. They are...

　　SCOTT NGUYEN: Variant hunters.

　　DOUCLEFF: Nguyen and his colleagues hunt for new coronavirus variants.

　　NGUYEN: I think that's a pretty cool way to describe it.

　　DOUCLEFF: They searched through millions of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences, looking to find mutants that could shift the course of the pandemic. For instance, back in November, one hunter found...

　　NGUYEN: A very weird⁷ set of spike⁸ mutations coming from South Africa that became omicron.

　　DOUCLEFF: Now Nguyen has detected another intriguing⁹ variant. It was first found in France, but has also shown up in other parts of the world. It's a combination of delta and omicron. As one scientist put it, this variant has the head of omicron stuck onto the body of delta.

　　NGUYEN: So the body of the virus is still delta, but a good chunk¹⁰ of it is - of the spike, at least, is omicron. So, yes, that's the best way to describe it.

　　DOUCLEFF: You know, that's just kind of remarkable¹¹. There's just some intrinsic, imaginary sci-fi element to this.

　　NGUYEN: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It kind of - surprising in a way. Like, hey, the virus really could do this and do it very well, as well.

　　DOUCLEFF: So how does the variant do this? How does it create this Frankenstein hybrid? Shishi Luo is a bioinformatician at Helix. It's a genomics company that has also been hunting for new variants. She says for these variants to arise, a person had to be infected with both omicron and delta at the same time.

　　SHISHI LUO: They were exposed in a short enough time frame that they have both of them in their system.

　　DOUCLEFF: Which means they were, like, infected twice, right?

　　LUO: Yeah. And also - this is purely¹² hypothetical, but omicron happened - it was around Christmas and New Year's, where there are a lot of social gatherings¹⁴. So you can imagine you go to one social gathering¹³, maybe you got exposed to delta. You go to a different social gathering, you got exposed to omicron. And they both got into the same cell at one point, and then this happens.

　　DOUCLEFF: When two variants are inside the same cell at the same time, she says they can end up doing a special process in which one variant, when it's replicating¹⁵, actually steals a chunk of genes¹⁶ from another variant. It's called recombination. Here's the problem with recombination. Dr. Mike Ryan at the World Health Organization says this process is the reason coronavirus has evolved so quickly, and it's how dangerous strains of the flu are made.

　　MIKE RYAN: That is how we generate pandemics of influenza¹⁷. It's through viral recombination. So we have to be very cautious, as Maria says. We have to watch these recombinant events very, very closely.

　　DOUCLEFF: Because although this deltacron variant is rare, recombination is a process where the virus can take its most successful parts and combine them quickly into a super virus. And there are other deltacrons out there. Shishi Luo and her colleagues have already found a handful in the U.S.

　　Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR News.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF FLOFILZ'S "TRANSIT(IONS)")

1 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

2 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

5 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

9 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

11 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

12 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

13 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

14 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

15 replicating   

复制( replicate的现在分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Applications create these partitions for storing and replicating data. 应用程序创建这些分区用来储存和复制数据。
• The closest real things to these creatures were bits of self-replicating RNA. 最贴近这些造物的实物是能做一点微不足道的自复制的核糖核酸。

16 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

17 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。