Sajjad Bahman
1 
, Safar Farajnia
2,3* , Effat Alizadeh
1, Hojjatollah Nozad Charoudeh
4, Mohammad Kazem Hosseini
5, Behrooz Naghili
61 Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
2 Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
3 Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
4 Stem Cell Research Center and Applied Cell Sciences Department, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
5 Istanbul University, Faculty of Sciences, Molecular Biology and Genetics Department, Istanbul, Turkey
6 Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 and its rapid global spread led to infrequent problems for human society. This vast spreading and high mortality rate were related mainly to the potential of this virus to develop mutated variants. Due to the emergence of hyper mutated strains escaping from vaccine-induced immune responses, the pandemic is still ongoing despite the discovery of various vaccines, and there is little chance that it will be eradicated in the near future. Therefore, it is crucial to monitor covid-19 mutations globally in order to develop new control measures. The SARS-CoV-2 mutation’s emergence and molecular characteristics have been the major talking points of this article, with a focus on significant variants classified as variants of concern (VOC).