4 ms·
I never mentioned mutation rate so your gotcha is not as crafty as you might think. Also a mutation in the sense you seem to be implying (random base pair chang
by ausername42027 5y ago
I never mentioned mutation rate so your gotcha is not as crafty as you might think. Also a mutation in the sense you seem to be implying (random base pair changes due to lack of proof reading) is not really what I am talking about. I am talking about HIV-1 genome being incorporated into SARS-CoV-2 by the host cell or either virus during replication. That is not that crazy when you have quadrillion of replication cycles and a selective pressure to mutate and incorporate new RNA.
- dnautics 5y agowe're talking about the odds of the founder event. My guess is odds are about 1 in 3^{5-6} (3-ish wobble options, five to six wobble sites, haven't looked at the sequence to confirm this. Probably someone can do a better analysis based on codon usage in humans. I suggest doing it as an exercise in understanding molecular biology.
- jacquesm 5y agoBesides an enormous number of people now infected with both HIV and COVID-19. That alone increases the chances of this happening naturally enormously.