The latest scientific discoveries once again support the natural origin of the new coronavirus

The latest scientific discoveries once again support the natural origin of the new coronavirus

"The new coronavirus originated in nature" said that once again, new scientific evidence was ushered in

On September 1, Qian Wenfeng, a researcher at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that his research team recently discovered that the new coronavirus has accumulated mutations in the genome before the outbreak.

Whether the new coronavirus originated in nature is a hot topic of international controversy

At present, the coronavirus with the most similar genome sequence to the new coronavirus is RaTG13 isolated from the chrysanthemum bat-the genetic sequence similarity is 96%, and its evolutionary divergence with the new coronavirus occurred about 50 years ago

"Because it is not known how these 500-odd mutations were produced, the possibility that the virus originated in the laboratory has been repeatedly mentioned in articles published in academic journals such as Science and Nature in recent months.

Is the new coronavirus evolved naturally or is it artificially modified? Are there any clues about the origin of these 500 mutations? This is what Qian Wenfeng has been thinking about

He thought of an example in life: the area where a person lives would be labeled with the language label of this area-dialect

In this regard, the research team proposed a new novel coronavirus tracing strategy-by identifying the spectral characteristics of more than 500 mutations of the new coronavirus, inferring the historical host of the new coronavirus

According to Qian Wenfeng, the researchers first confirmed the three prerequisites that need to be met for the application of this strategy: First, there are differences in the cellular environment between different hosts, which will produce host-specific mutations in the viral genomes they carry.

As an RNA virus, the genome of the new coronavirus is composed of 4 bases A, U, C, and G.

The research team constructed the evolutionary tree of SARS virus, Middle East respiratory syndrome virus, new coronavirus and 16 related coronaviruses.

"By identifying the mutations accumulated at different periods in the evolutionary history of these viruses, we found that viruses derived from different hosts have different mutation characteristics

She told reporters that the coronaviruses that have evolved in bat cells and human cells can be clearly distinguished, indicating that the viruses do speak different "dialects" after the evolution of bat cells and human cells

Then, the research team analyzed the mutation characteristics of the new coronavirus before the outbreak, and compared its characteristics with the mutation characteristics of the virus in known hosts

"That is to say, the origin of the new coronavirus is consistent with the natural process, which provides new scientific support for the natural origin of the new

She also said that looking forward to the future, the tracing of the virus can not only help people establish behavioral guidelines to avoid potential epidemics, but also reduce the troubles caused by rumors about the origin of the virus, and help the international community to eliminate the barriers caused by disputes about the origin of the virus

Our newspaper, Beijing, September 1st

China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily reporter Qiu Chenhui Source: China Youth Daily