Quebec scientists discover COVID-19 mutations

Quebec researchers made a discovery about COVID-19 in the fall of 2020 – a globally unique sub-variant that had mutated among Quebecers, that seems to have come from Europe. Scientists call it the “Quebec variant” and it’s since disappeared, but what is showing up now? A recombined variant.

“We actually detected our first recombinant XE last week,” says Inès Levade, scientific counsellor in genomics and bioinformatics, at the Public Health Laboratory of Quebec. “We are already paying close attention to this potential new variant.”

So far, there’s no strong evidence to draw a conclusion about the transmission says Levade. Several recombined variants have been identified over the course of the pandemic, but she says they are detecting more now.

“A recombinant variant occurs when an individual become infected with two or more variants at the same time,” explained the scientific counsellor.  “The result is that this virus can mix genetic material within the patient’s body and at the end, you have like a combination of these two variants.”

#WATCH: “This lineage was called B.1.160,” says Ines Levade, scientific counsellor in genomics and bioinformatics, at the Public Health Laboratory of Quebec who speaks about the “Quebec variant” that circulated in the province in 2020. pic.twitter.com/QgE7ICSLFB

— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) April 4, 2022

Examples Levade provides is: having someone be infected with Delta and Omicron, or BA.1 and BA.2 at the same time.

About two new mutations are produced per month she says. One of the first mutations detected in the province in March 2020 was what researchers coined the so called “Quebec” variant.

“This Quebec variant was actually part of a lineage for a kind of variant,” says Levade. “This lineage was called B.1.160 and was first identified in different European countries like Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom in February 2020.”

The “Quebec variant” wasn’t talked about since no focus was put on mutations at the time, before the Alpha variant came along.

It’s referred to as the “Quebec variant” mostly by the scientists who were studying it because the mutations in the province that came out of Europe’s B.1.160 were very specific to the province.

Levade says the variant totally disappeared from Quebec after July 2021, when Delta arrived and became dominant.

“[The ‘Quebec variant’] accumulated in Quebec around seven mutations comparing to the original variant that arrived from Europe,” explains Levade. “But if we compare all the variants of concern, Alpha that arrived in December 2020, this one accumulated 22 mutations […] and Omicron right now is around 50 to 54 new mutations.”

As COVID-19 restrictions loosen in the province, and across the globe, Levade says that she and her team will continue to monitor mutations – from new to old.

“The transmission is still happening,” she says. “Because of that were still maintaining our surveillance closely.”