When it all happened I remember Reddit was claiming US created the virus. Then it was from Europe. Then it was China but Trumps fault and now it's all Trumps fault.
This daily beast article that r/worldnews is celebrating makes some very dishonest strawmen in trying to discredit the paper. They might even be mis-representing the scientific expert, Dr. Angela Rasmussen a virologist at Columbia University, whom they are quoting for this tabloid.
The paper leads with a claim that the coronavirus' genes are "suspiciously similar to that of a bat coronavirus discovered by military laboratories" in China—an assertion Rasmussen says shouldn’t be surprising because “they are related SARS-like coronaviruses.”
The paper makes the argument specifically of suspicious correlation, see figures 1, 2 and 4 to briefly understand the paper's assertion about suspicion correlation. The paper includes other Coronavirus strains in its genomic sequence analysis, and makes the argument that there is strong correlation between SARS-CoV-2 and ZC45/ZXC21, beyond just normal correlation between other various strains.
The study’s authors made a similar claim about a portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein—which viruses use to breach and infect cells—and wrote that it’s similar to the original SARS virus in a “suspicious manner” and suggests genetic manipulation. “SARS-CoV also used ACE2 as a cellular receptor, as do other SARS-like bat coronaviruses,” Rasmussen says. “It is not suspicious and is in fact expected that the receptor binding domains that bind the same protein would be similar.”
hACE2 and ACE2 are the enzymes to which these coronaviruses bind. The paper is making the argument that the receptor binding motifs of SARS-CoV-2 are not consistent with natural evolution, so for Rasmussen to reiterate the basic science does nothing to address the specific claims of the paper.
Rasmussen also said that the paper misrepresented basic facts about another part of coronavirus spike proteins known as furin cleavage sites. The authors claim that SARS-CoV-2’s cleavage site is “unique” and unseen elsewhere in nature. But according to Rasmussen, “Furin cleavage sites occur naturally in many other beta-CoVs, including MERS-CoV and other SARS-like bat coronaviruses.”
Again Rasmussen is merely stating the basic science about furin cleavage sites, and not addressing the paper's issue with how this part of the SARS-CoV-2 cell is unique, even among other closely related coronaviruses. From the paper, "SARS-CoV-2 contains a unique furin-cleavage site in its Spike protein,which is known to greatly enhance viral infectivity and cell tropism. Yet, this cleavage site is completely absent in this particular class of coronaviruses found in nature. In addition, rare codons associated with this additional sequence suggest the strong possibility that this furin-cleavage site is not the product of natural evolution and could have been inserted into the SARS-CoV-2 genome artificially by techniques other than simple serial passage or multi-strain recombination events inside co-infected tissue cultures or animals."
When it all happened I remember Reddit was claiming US created the virus. Then it was from Europe. Then it was China but Trumps fault and now it's all Trumps fault.
Reddit is now claiming Dr. Yan is a Steven Bannon puppet. I’m serious. The mental illness at that place is breathtaking.
This daily beast article that r/worldnews is celebrating makes some very dishonest strawmen in trying to discredit the paper. They might even be mis-representing the scientific expert, Dr. Angela Rasmussen a virologist at Columbia University, whom they are quoting for this tabloid.
The paper makes the argument specifically of suspicious correlation, see figures 1, 2 and 4 to briefly understand the paper's assertion about suspicion correlation. The paper includes other Coronavirus strains in its genomic sequence analysis, and makes the argument that there is strong correlation between SARS-CoV-2 and ZC45/ZXC21, beyond just normal correlation between other various strains.
hACE2 and ACE2 are the enzymes to which these coronaviruses bind. The paper is making the argument that the receptor binding motifs of SARS-CoV-2 are not consistent with natural evolution, so for Rasmussen to reiterate the basic science does nothing to address the specific claims of the paper.
Again Rasmussen is merely stating the basic science about furin cleavage sites, and not addressing the paper's issue with how this part of the SARS-CoV-2 cell is unique, even among other closely related coronaviruses. From the paper, "SARS-CoV-2 contains a unique furin-cleavage site in its Spike protein,which is known to greatly enhance viral infectivity and cell tropism. Yet, this cleavage site is completely absent in this particular class of coronaviruses found in nature. In addition, rare codons associated with this additional sequence suggest the strong possibility that this furin-cleavage site is not the product of natural evolution and could have been inserted into the SARS-CoV-2 genome artificially by techniques other than simple serial passage or multi-strain recombination events inside co-infected tissue cultures or animals."