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09-04-2020
By SJA Jafri (Bureau Chief Australia)
KARACHI/ MELBOURNE: Pakistani researchers at country’s top ‘Dow University of Health Sciences’ (DUHS) have identified two naturally occurring mutations, which can withstand the novel coronavirus, are found in the human gene. The coronavirus, due to these mutations in the human gene can be ineffective in their body. This research has recently been published in the International magazine of Virology, Journal of Medical Virology. Experts say recent research will help to determine/allocate the medical resources for the global outbreak of the Coronavirus. Experts at the Dow University say test samples taken during the screening can also be used to detect the presence of these genetic variants. The presence of either or both of these mutations will reduce the chances of the coronavirus disease for getting worse, in which case the person affected by the corona will only need quarantine in one room of the house while in the other case person with the corona may further need 
medications along hospitalization and ventilator may also be required. Research conducted at Dow College of Biotechnology, Dow University of Health Sciences under the supervision of Dr Mushtaq Hussain, Vice Principal, Dow College of Biotechnology is published in Journal of Medical Virology. Dr Hussain and his team including Dr Nusrat Jabeen, Fozia Raza, Sanya Shabbir, Ayesha Ashraf Baig, Anusha Amanullah and Basma Aziz explored mutations in the ACE2 gene/protein of 1000s of humans via genomic data mining. ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2) protein is a molecule to which SARS-CoV-2, causative agent of COVID-19, binds at the very initial phase of the infection. By extensive structural modeling and docking techniques, the researchers predicted that two mutations, S19P and E329G, in ACE2 may make humans (with these mutations) naturally resistant to COVID-19 infection. Screening of COVID-19 patients for the presence of these mutations will in turn help in predicting 
the prognosis of the disease and allocation of the limiting resources. Dr. Mushtaq Hussain, head of the research team, said that in data mining the human genomes of individuals from China, Latin America and some European countries are included. It is worth mentioning here that in the above analysis, the frequency of the mutations in ACE-2 was very low. Keeping in mind that the countries mentioned above have been badly affected by the coronavirus, Prof. Muhammad Saeed Quraishy, Vice Chancellor of the Dow University of Health Sciences, met the Head and members of the research team and applauded their efforts and congratulated them on timely research and its success at international level. He said that at Dow University, Research is being carried out on Covid-19 on various aspects and also getting positive results. It is hoped that these efforts to save human beings from this global epidemic will be successful.
