In the Coronavirus and genetics newspaper, I found by writer Carl Zimmer, Genes may leave some people more vulnerable to server COVID-19, he talks about how it is possible for the human genome to have an influence on whether a person has server Coronavirus symptoms or becomes very ill. Zimmer published his work at The New York Times in June of this year, where it was further posted on The Virginia Pilot. In this genetics related Coronavirus entry, he reports that there are two spots in the human genome that are the reasons for an increased respiratory risk that makes people susceptible to contracting Coronavirus. Zimmer reports “One of these spots included the gene that determines blood type.”. Zimmer followed the work of a molecular geneticist named Andre Franke, and the process that Franke, along with a group of other geneticists, went through to determine the locus or the loci of certain “Coronavirus susceptible genes” in our genomes. Franke and his team looked at the sequencing of 9 million genetic letters from almost 4,000 different people, both with and without evidence of Coronavirus. The article informs that looking a the genes in DNA is called gene sequencing. Posted in The New York Times it showed that people with Blood Type A are more susceptible to contracting an illness from Coronavirus than others. He explains that “…where the blood-type gene is situated also contains a stretch of DNA that acts as an on-off switch for a gene producing a protein that triggers strong immune responses.”, showing that in his work people with Blood Type A don’t have as strong of immune responses to diseases such as Coronavirus. 

Based on later information from other scientists, I can not support Zimmer’s post on the genome for blood type being the sole reason for weak Coronavirus immune response. In a genetics review article published a month later by Ann Hematol called, Blood type and outcomes in patients with Coronavirus, they test this statement by looking at the correlation between positive patients and their blood type. In her work, a previous study was acknowledged that had the same claim that Carl Zimmers New York Times. The study published by two scientists, Ziets and Tatonetti, had data associating Blood Type A with Coronavirus positives. Hematol’s study looked at many different analyses of the blood types in order to try and find a correlation between blood types and positives. There were 1,300 patient blood types observed for testing positive for Coronavirus and she reports “After multivariable analysis, blood type A had no correlation with positive testing.”. Of the patients who had tested positive, less than 16 percent of them had Blood Type A, saying, “Given the lack of association between ABO subtype and severe disease found in these data as well as the preliminary data from Zietz and Tatonetti, ABO blood typing should not currently be considered prognostic in those who acquire the disease.” 

While Carl Zimmer’s post in The New York Times seemed very credible and logical that certain genes would make a person more susceptible to contracting the disease, Hematol’s study debunks it showing there is no firm correlation between blood type and Coronavirus positives.

References

Zimmer C. June 6 2020. Genes may leave some people more vulnerable to severe COVID-19. Retrieved October 25, 2020, from https://www.pilotonline.com/coronavirus/sns-nyt-coronavirus-blood-type-genetics-20200604-u5qweav65fhsnhtesgaqzbwm6q-story.html

Latz CA, DeCarlo C, Boitano L, Png CYM, Patell R, Conrad MF, Eagleton M, Dua A. 2020. Data from “Blood type and outcomes in patients with COVID-19.”. Annals of hematology, 99(9), 2113–2118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-020-04169-1