インフルエンザウイルスの理解
Hello everyone, SCIENSPOT is a podcast that shines a spotlight on the latest scientific
technology from Japan. Your host is REN from SCIEN-TALK. Today, let's talk about the Flu.
We all know the influenza virus changes every year, which is why we need new vaccines. But
did you know that even inside a single infected person, the virus isn't just one type? It
exists as a cloud of slightly different variations. Scientists call this a quasi-species. Understanding
this diversity is key to predicting future pandemics. However, until now, it was very
hard to study these rare variations because our DNA reading machines, called sequences,
make small mistakes. Scientists couldn't tell if a variation was a real mutation or
just a machine error. Today's spotlight is on the breakthrough from the University of
Tokyo, a research team led by PhD student Tamao, Professor Noji, and Associate Professor
Tabata has developed a new method to read viral genomes with incredible accuracy. So
how did they fix their error problem? The secret ingredient is something called a unique
molecular identifier, or UMI for short. Think of it as a molecular barcode. Here is how
the experiment works. First, the researchers attach a unique random barcode to each individual
ウイルス解析の新技術
piece of viral RNA before they start copying it for analysis. Then, they make many copies
and read them with a sequencer. If the machine makes a mistake, the typo will appear in only
one copy. But if the original virus actually had a mutation, every single copy with the
specific barcode will have the same change. By grouping the data by those barcodes, the
team could filter out the noise and lower the error rate to about 1 in 10,000. When
they applied this method to a virus population grown from a single particle, they found something
amazing. Even though they all came from one parent, the population was full of diverse mutants. They
even found rare mutants that were already resistant to certain drugs, hiding in the
population before any drug was even used. In conclusion, this new barcode technology allows
us to see the hidden potential of viruses. By understanding these hidden mutants, scientists
hope to use AI to predict future variants and design better vaccines before a pandemic
happens. It's a huge step forward in planetary health.
That's all for today's SciencePod. This part is broadcast in both Japanese and English.
I'd love for you to listen to the podcasts and post your thoughts with the hashtag SciencePod.
Thank you for listening and see you next time.
