WUHAN, May 3, 2020 -- The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, was shut on January 1, 2020 by Chinese authorities. The common narrative told to us by the WHO, who got their information from Chinese authorities, is that the market was “ground zero”, or origin, of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The story has been told that the virus jumped from bats to humans, with the “patient zero” being identified as a shrimp vendor in that wet market. Chinese scholars saw otherwise. Here's a Q&A, with answers based on available, published papers: Q: Was the S protein on the SARS-CoV-2 lab generated, and that it's a chimeric virus modified from the original SARS-CoV, with the addition of the desired S protein to make them more bind easily to human cells, thus amplifying their virulence and transmissibility? It's hard to say. There's no perfect knowledge on tnis virulent enemy. One study, (a pre-print, non-peer-reviewed and has been reportedly withdrawn) in January 2020 shows the supposed link, claiming SARS-CoV-2 exhibited an "uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag." This kicked up a trail of conspiracy theories. Another study, titled "HIV-1 did not contribute to the 2019-nCoV genome", published on February 14, 2020 in "Emerging Microbes and Infections", disputed it, saying there's no direct link. Both studies made use of comparative genetic sequences of the viruses they investigated. Gene editing, a super specialised field, is an exclusive domain of highly specialised few. It may be a perpetual challenge to figure out the real cause or cure for SARS-CoV-2. What's clear is that there's a group of US Federal government-funded researchers who made a lab-generated virus that examined the disease-causing potential of SHC-014-CoV, described as a "SARS-like virus". In the abstract, the researchers stated that they "generated and characterized a chimeric virus expressing the spike of bat coronavirus SHC014 in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone." Caption written by researchers on 'Nature': Coronavirus strains are maintained in quasi-species pools circulating in bat populations. (a,b) Traditional SARS-CoV emergence theories posit that host-range mutants (red circle) represent random and rare occurrences that permit infection of alternative hosts. The secondary-host paradigm (a) argues that a nonhuman host is infected by a bat progenitor virus and, through adaptation, facilitates transmission to humans; subsequent replication in humans leads to the epidemic viral strain. The direct paradigm (b) suggests that transmission occurs between bats and humans without the requirement of an intermediate host; selection then occurs in the human population with closely related viruses replicating in a secondary host, permitting continued viral persistence and adaptation in both. (c) The data from chimeric SARS-like viruses argue that the quasi-species pools maintain multiple viruses capable of infecting human cells without the need for mutations (red circles). Although adaptations in secondary or human hosts may be required for epidemic emergence, if SHC014 spike–containing viruses recombined with virulent CoV backbones (circles with green outlines), then epidemic disease may be the result in humans. Existing data support elements of all three paradigms. Q: Chimeric virus: Double meaning? It's a well-known term used in the virology community. A chimeric virus has a double meaning. One, it refers to dormat viruses revived by scientists after being unearthed in the frozen wasteland of Siberia. Two, it denotes research by virologists to allow viruses to "gain" -- or improve -- "function", by combining parts of other viruses or other organisms. There had been at least one scientific conference among hundreds of biotech, epidemiology and virology experts that saw fierce debates on the merits of developing chimeric or "franken-viruses". Q: What is the "mechanism of virulence" (MOV) of SARS-CoV(1)? The SARS virus and its structural proteins are well known to exclusive community of biotech, virology and genetic engineering experts around the world. These structural proteins of the SARS-CoV (1) have been targetted by researchers for new "treatment" options.
Q: What is the function of spike glycoprotein (or S gp) of the SARS-CoV(1)? Intra- and extracellular proteases often cleave the S protein into S1 and S2 domains (or a cell), with the cleavage process often increasing infectivity of the virus. Molecular modelling has been performed for the S1 and S2 units of the SARS-CoV spike protein. "The spike proteins of coronaviruses are reported to bind to receptors on their target cells and the domains responsible for receptor-binding are commonly situated in the N-terminal region of S1. The spikes consist of oligomeric structures, that are formed by heptad repeats of the S2 domain which also represent a fusion peptide sequence. This peptide is responsible for the coronavirus fusion activity."
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