Conversation

2. Again, no outright conspiracy theories please. Here is another explanation: The new #coronavirus is an RNA virus—that is, viruses that have RNA as their genetic material rather than DNA—which have a “high mutation rate,” which allows it to “change properties very quickly.”

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China Underreporting True Scale of Deadly Viral Outbreak, Expert Says

3. The RNA sequences of the #coronavirus isolated from 6 patients from the same household are different from each other (Lancet), sign of the virus evolving. This may not be so good to the ear; it suggests the difficulty of containing this virus”. (from m.theepochtimes.com/china-underrep)

The Chinese regime is likely underreporting the true scale of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Harvard virologist. ...

theepochtimes.com

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Full-genome evolutionary analysis of the novel corona virus (2019-nCoV) rejects the hypothesis of...

4. DEEPER DIVE into #coronavirus RNA genome

, here goes... “it came from bats

” is often heard, but it’s trickier. The

has similarities to bat coronavirus, but this new paper REJECTS there was recent recombination. There is something discordant too:

Background: A novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) associated with human to human transmission and severe human infection has been recently reported from the city of Wuhan in China. Our objectives were to...

biorxiv.org

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5. (Continued from above)... “A BLAST search of 2019-nCoV middle fragment revealed no considerable similarity with any of the previously characterized corona viruses (figure 2)” —> it’s a sequence entirely new to any known #coronavirus. What does this mean? We don’t know yet.

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6. “Notably, the new coronavirus provides a new lineage for almost half of its genome, with no close genetic relationships to other viruses within the subgenus of sarbecovirus.” —> basically it’s saying it’s completely brand new to #coronavirus subgenus.

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7. Very strange: So what is in this new mystery middle segment that has no #coronavirus history? The study authors continue: “This genomic part comprises also half of the spike region encoding a multifunctional protein responsible also for virus entry into host cells[30,31]”.

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8. Continuing: “Our study rejects the hypothesis of emergence as a result of a recent recombination event.”—> I.e. the authors also conclude that the new #coronavirus did not originate from random recent admixture between different coronaviruses. Other possibilities of course.

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9. BOTTOMLINE: 1) Seafood market not the source. 2) This RNA #coronavirus mutates really fast. 3)

has unusual middle segment never seen before in any coronavirus. 4) Not from recent mixing. 5) That mystery middle segment encodes protein responsible for entry into host cells.

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10. TO BE CLEAR: I am absolutely not saying it’s bioengineering, nor am I supporting any conspiracy theories with no evidence. I’m simply saying scientists need to do more research + get more data. And finding the origin of the virus is an important research priority. Goodnight

4:24 AM · Jan 28, 2020Twitter for iPhone

Replying to

11. Dubbing this the [GENETIC THREAD]

thread, let’s delve back into the genetic similarities of the new

with SARS and bat #coronaviruses. Study in Lancet says ~88% related to closest bat coronavirus, 79% to SARS (which is more than humans-elephants) marlin-prod.literatumonline.com/pb-assets/Lanc

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12. ...As you can see, the new nCOV is a branch off the bat coronavirus subgenus. It is too distant from SARS (79%) or MERS (only 50% related)

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13. For the most part, the new #coronavirus shares 87-88% overlap with bat coronavirus. But there are parts of it like the “S” gene

region where I drops to ~70%, and even 68% in lowest point. But other gene regions share

consensus as high as 95%.

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14. What is in the “S”

region of the #coronavirus? According to the Lancet piece (link

above), it encodes the virus envelop spike protein of the

for binding receptors of host cells - “crucial for host tropism” — which basically identifies how to target

host tissue.

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15. One source or many sources? The mutation rate suggests the 2019-nCoV came from just one recent source in single jump (as opposed to several mutation sources). This doesn’t mean much other than it wasn’t several strains that started outbreak. Don’t over-interpret. Just FYI.

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16. UPDATE ON

GENOME

: a very intriguing new paper investigating the aforementioned mystery middle segment w/ “S” spike protein: likely origin from HIV. “Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag” from biorxiv.org/content/10.110

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17. ...WHOA- the authors said the finding was “Unexpectedly” related to genes from HIV virus. Notably there were 4 gene insertions (see figure in above post #16). And so, which HIV gene proteins were found in the new #coronarvirus? Gag protein and Gp120- key HIV proteins...

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18. Notably, in

, authors say for HIV

insertions: “Gag protein of HIV is involved in host membrane binding, packaging of the virus and for the formation of virus-like particles. Gp120 plays crucial role in recognizing the host cell by binding to the primary receptor CD4”

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19. Again, these are new express published findings and not peer reviewed yet. Let’s not draw conclusions yet. But evidence suggest that 2 different HIV genes

are present in the #coronarvirus S gene region (that didn’t map to any other coronavirus, according to other studies).

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20. Further the authors add that “This indicates that these insertions have been preferably acquired by the 2019-nCoV, providing it with additional survival and infectivity advantage. Delving deeper we found that these insertions were similar to HIV-1.”

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21. Paper piles on: “these

insertions are present at binding site of 2019-nCoV. Due to presence of gp120 motifs in 2019-nCoV spike glycoprotein at its binding domain, we propose that these motif insertions could have provided an enhanced affinity towards host cell receptors.”

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22. The authors dunked this final conclusion: “This uncanny similarity of novel inserts in the 2019- nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag is unlikely to be fortuitous”. Wow, they sure just went straight there!

What a bold paper... I don’t know what to say

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. twitter.com/aranganathan72

23. Apparently I’m not alone thinking this paper’s conclusion is “bat-shit” wild (pardon the pun). We need to replicate this study now before the world goes mad. Let’s all pause and hold our breath please

Quote Tweet

Anand Ranganathan

@ARanganathan72

· 7h

Replying to @ARanganathan72

Oh my god. Indian scientists have just found HIV (AIDS) virus-like insertions in the 2019-nCov virus that are not found in any other coronavirus. They hint at the possibility that this Chinese virus was designed ["not fortuitous']. Scary if true. biorxiv.org/content/10.110

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24. SOMEONE needs to replicate this study ASAP (post #16 above). We all need exclusively puppy

hugging pictures meantime.

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25. QUICK FOLLOWUP: One researcher

@trvrb

did a BLAST search and did find the insertions existing in other related viruses. Let’s wait and see for more confirming / refuting studies to be published. twitter.com/trvrb/status/1

Quote Tweet

Trevor Bedford

@trvrb

· 6h

These short inserts do indeed exist in #nCoV2019 relative to its closest sequenced relative (BetaCoV/bat/Yunnan/RaTG13/2013, seen here nextstrain.org/groups/blab/sa). However, a simple BLAST of such short sequences shows match to a huge variety of organisms. No reason to conclude HIV. twitter.com/biorxivpreprin

Show this thread

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DISCUSSION: BioRxiv pre-print on 2019-nCoV spike protein...

26. Pre-Printed papers are sometimes dangerous because they aren’t peer-reviewed or vetted. There is now a full blown detailed discussion on Reddit critiquing this purported paper from post #16:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871v1 Hi. I am unavailable in a meeting for approximately 2.5 hours but my research is...

reddit.com

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27. Science

has never had this type of un-peer reviewed pre-print publishing + combined with a fast moving outbreak like this. It is a struggle for science communicators to cope. EVERYONE PLEASE WAIT FOR FURTHER REPLICATION STUDIES TO CONFIRM/REFUTE.

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No, the 2019-nCoV genome doesn’t actually seem engineered from HIV – The Prepared

28. DEBUNKING the ub-peer-reviewed article in post #16: Another researcher has stepped forward to post a long explanation debunking the purported HIV-derived hypothesis. ***Worth Reading***.

A group of bioinformaticians at two prestigious universities in Delhi, India, published a preprint scientific manuscript on the bioRxiv preprint server Friday has led many to speculate wildly that...

theprepared.com

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Replying to

and

Agree . Those evil China scientists are capable of anything horrible things . Remember the Jiankui He ? He bioengineered human embryo.

Replying to

Those links you’ve used to back up your claims. Are they highly reputable? BioRxiv and The Epoch Times? Because my cursory research show they are QAnon nut outlets...

Skaffen

@Skaffen00

Yea the authors of the paper are legit.

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Are you aware of any correlation between the 4 Blood Types and Rh positive /negative in cured/death patients? #coronavirus #CoronaOutbreak

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unroll

Namaste, you can read it here: Thread by

Thread by @DrEricDing: “Where did the

: “Where did the

come from?” is one of the most asked questions. First, I don’t like unsupported… threadreaderapp.com/thread/1221990. See you soon.

come from?” is one of the most asked questions. First, I...

Thread by @DrEricDing: “Where did the

come from?” is one of the most asked questions. First, I don’t like unsupported conspiracy theories,a lingering question. @sciencemagazine examined this based...

Replying to

So does this mean it can alter itself to get past different defenses in the body?

I love my America. ALL IS WELL

@MarieTrump1

Cagayan de Oro, Philippines My Home

yes, that's exactly what it means. it continues to mutate it will be impossible to find a cure.

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Goodnight is impossible after reading this thread...

@CagayanMy

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So i'm wondering when should we expect to see foreign cases popping up from the Chinese that had left China recently. They say 12-14 days incubation period? So im guessing 12-14 days after they made contact in other countries being any day now????

Wakeup korea

@Realminjuju

I agree. s.korea will conduct a full survey from 3.000 people entering wuhan from 14 to 23 today

Replying to

to allay the concerns of one of the conspiracies around - can

@WHO

clarify all the cases around the world - what ethic group are they from - always one particular group, or all kinds of ethnic group.. #coronavirus

lee

@lee39421911

I have been trying to find that answer all night. Chatted with a Man in Bavaria who confirmed that the German citizen who has been infected near Munich is of Asian ethnicity. Is it possible they were working with a virus for a vaccine on an Asian ethnicbioweapon, and it got out?

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Thanks for your wisdom to the lay folks.... intellectually this is all fascinating.

@tqlemd

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