TACC’s Frontera supercomputer aids in building infection models of COVID-19 variants.

The UK variant, also known as B.1.1.7, was first detected in September 2020, and is now causing 98 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom. And it appears to be gaining a firm grip in about 100 other countries it has spread to in the past several months, including France, Denmark, and the United States.

The World Health Organization says B.1.1.7 is one of several variants of concern along with others that have emerged in South Africa and Brazil.

«The UK, South Africa, and Brazil variants are more contagious and escape immunity easier than the original virus,» said Victor Padilla-Sanchez, a research scientist at The Catholic University of America. «We need to understand why they are more infectious and, in many cases, more deadly.»

All three variants have undergone changes to their spike protein — the part of the virus which attaches to human cells. As a result, they are better at infecting cells and spreading.

In a research paper published in January 2021 in Research Ideas and Outcomes, Padilla-Sanchez discusses the UK and South African variants in detail. He presents a computational analysis of the structure of the spike glycoprotein bound to the ACE2 receptor where the mutations have been introduced. His paper outlines the reason why these variants bind better to human cells.

Story Source: Materials provided by University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center. Original written by Faith Singer-Villalobos. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.