MANAGING THE COVID-19 SURGE

Any life form constantly evolves by random genetic mutation followed by natural selection of the fittest.

- DR P.S. VENKATESH RAO

Evolution over successive generations leads to the development of new variants, traits, species, or populations due to altered genes, the blueprint of any life form. Gain-of-function research attempts to hasten evolution to create more deadly pathogens as bioweapons under the guise of developing vaccines ahead of the evolutionary appearance of such pathogens. Genetic engineering with the powerful CRISPR gene editing technology, using protein Cas9 as a pair of "molecular scissors" for precise DNA modification, has also been misused for bioweapons.

The irony is that natural selection in evolution usually leads to less deadly pathogens better at evading host defenses, as deadly variants would get exterminated with their hosts. The host immune systems react more to deadly variants than to milder variants. Bioweapons are the genetically modified, deadly variants of pathogens, but as seen with Covid-19, natural selection eventually leads to milder, more transmissible, and immune-evading variants.