What happens when the coronavirus mutates?

New mutations to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 are emerging, including a more-infectious variant first found in the United Kingdom, even as vaccines containing bits of viral genetic material are beginning distribution. Gustavo Caetano-Anollés, a professor in the Department of Crop Sciences and a member of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been studying and cataloging genetic mutations to the virus. In an interview with News Bureau biomedical sciences editor Liz Ahlberg Touchstone, Caetano-Anollés discussed viral mutation and what it could mean for vaccinations.

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