3 ms·

Note that SARS-CoV-2 contains a unique furin cleavage site, unseen in other coronaviruses. The first to point this out, in February 2020, was the Wuhan Institu

Note that SARS-CoV-2 contains a unique furin cleavage site, unseen in other coronaviruses. The first to point this out, in February 2020, was the Wuhan Institute of Virology: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12250-020-00212-7.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12250-020-002... This strange furin cleave site allows the virus to bind to human ACE2 receptors. An interesting scientific reading on this, which does not rule out genetic manipulation in a lab: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/bies.202000240 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/bies.2020002...

lamontcg 6y ago
"Furin cleavage sites naturally occur in coronaviruses" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1873506120304165 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187350612... HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-UK1 both have them and they've likely evolved several times over in parallel evolution (or as the result of multiple infection and recombination maybe?)
- thowaway959125 6y ago
  Your article specifically states "not one acquired recently via recombination" unless it was an ancient strain. It is almost as if Sarbecovirus acquired portions of the Hipposideros genome. You'll note your article also says this did not come from pangolins or its closest bat relatives, which shoots down another media narrative. > Strains of SARS-CoV-2 (we also added sequences from the GISAID database) have furin cleavage sites at spike S1/S2. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 is the only virus in subgenus Sarbecovirus having this feature, while even its closest relatives, bat coronavirus RaTG13 (sequence identity 97.7%) and pangolin coronaviruses (92.9%–90.7%), do not have furin site.
  - lamontcg 6y ago
    That article pretty decisively refutes your idea that the furin cleavage site cannot come from evolution and implies a bioweapons research project. You can try to split hairs, but your argument is wrong.
- deleted 6y ago
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lamontcg 6y ago

"Furin cleavage sites naturally occur in coronaviruses" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1873506120304165 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187350612... HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-UK1 both have them and they've likely evolved several times over in parallel evolution (or as the result of multiple infection and recombination maybe?)

thowaway959125 6y ago
Your article specifically states "not one acquired recently via recombination" unless it was an ancient strain. It is almost as if Sarbecovirus acquired portions of the Hipposideros genome. You'll note your article also says this did not come from pangolins or its closest bat relatives, which shoots down another media narrative. > Strains of SARS-CoV-2 (we also added sequences from the GISAID database) have furin cleavage sites at spike S1/S2. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 is the only virus in subgenus Sarbecovirus having this feature, while even its closest relatives, bat coronavirus RaTG13 (sequence identity 97.7%) and pangolin coronaviruses (92.9%–90.7%), do not have furin site.
- lamontcg 6y ago
  That article pretty decisively refutes your idea that the furin cleavage site cannot come from evolution and implies a bioweapons research project. You can try to split hairs, but your argument is wrong.
deleted 6y ago
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