By ANA March 27, 2020

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. (Photo by Eurokinissi/ Vasilis Ververidis)

ATHENS The rapid analysis and now the knowledge of the SARS-CoV-2 genome is helping us to find quicker ways to deal with it, said Zacharias Skouras, Professor of Genetics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).

In an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, he explained that the enemy is no longer invisible, because it is visible through the progress made under the microscope, the penetration of the human eye into parts so tiny that we can see its image, its phenotype, the means of cultivating and identifying it in different environments, and even more so, its genotype and the analysis of its genetic information.

As for the behaviour of SARS-CoV-2, he noted that it is the seventh coronavirus, and despite its recent appearance, it has been extensively studied. He observed that it is a smart virus as it is invasive and spreads, that is, it survives better because it is not extremely lethal.

Based on studies of human-infecting coronaviruses, both clinically and molecularly, he agreed with the scientific conclusion that the virus did not escape from a laboratory, it was not genetically modified and it is probably a product of nature.

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The Enemy Is no Longer Invisible, Greek Professor of Genetics Says - The National Herald