New research: SARS-CoV-2 virus from nature, not from laboratory

A team of Chinese scientists announced in a study last week that they have evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic spreading globally could have spawned in itself. However, it does not undergo genetic engineering, but rather is made in the lab.

The study, published in bioRxiv - an open repository of these biological research projects, also indicates that this strain may have spawned from some naturally occurring recombination events among viruses in bats and other wildlife.

New research: SARS-CoV-2 virus from nature, not from laboratory Picture 1

This research and analysis is the result of 227 bat samples collected from Yunnan Province, China from May to October 2019.

RmYN02 corona virus is derived from bats that are up to 93% of the gene sequence for its close relative NCoV-19 - a new strain of the corona virus that causes the Covid-19 outbreak worldwide.

RmYN02 shows that amino acids are inserted at two junction points of the prickly protein (Spike (S) protein) - a trait once cited as evidence that the virus causing Covid-19 was created in the laboratory. experience.

However, the researchers say that this newly discovered virus strain provides strong evidence that this insertion is possible in the wild. They also claim that this suggests that the virus that caused the Covid-19 epidemic may have occurred from some recombination event in nature.

Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist at Wuhan University, told the Global Times on March 8 that recombination is a common form of variation for viruses. "If the recombination takes place at a high frequency, it means that the virus has many different hosts," Yang said.

Previous studies have suggested that bats, pangolins and other wildlife may be the host of a new strain of corona virus - a variant that can later infect humans. and cause disease today.

Bats live in groups and often stay together in caves, as well as rarely moving too far. This behavior facilitates viral exchange between zooids and consequently recombinant genes, the study said.

The research team consists of scientists from laboratories and research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as foreign experts at the University of Sydney. This research paper has not been officially published and has not been reviewed and evaluated by other scientists./.