Category: Origins

Preprint: MSH3 omohlogy and potential recombination link to SARS-CoV-2 furin cleavage site

“A BLAST search revealed that a 19 nucleotide portion of the SARS.Cov2 genome encompassing the furin cleavage site is a 100% complementary match to a codon-optimized proprietary sequence that is the reverse complement of the human mutS homolog (MSH3)”

“A BLAST search for the 12-nucleotide insertion led us to a 100% reverse match in a proprietary sequence (SEQ ID11652, nt 2751-2733) found in the US patent 9,587,003 filed on Feb.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Coronavirus, Evolution, Genome, Moderna, Origins, USA, Vaccine

SARS-CoV-2 in Angola from 23rd September 2019

“Our findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies were detected in 40 out of 442 specimens, as early as September 23, 2019”

This retrospective study on blood specimens from measles patients collected from 23 September 2019 to 28 February 2020, reported from the 17 provinces of Angola, suggests evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection months before detection of the virus in Luanda, the epicenter of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Angola.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, Angola, Coronavirus, Evolution, Genome, Infection, Origins, PCR, Testing, Transmission, Vaccine

Preprint: Evidence for a mouse origin of Omicron

“In this study, we identified mutations acquired by Omicron before its outbreak, and tested whether the molecular spectrum of these mutations was consistent with the cellular environment of human hosts… The molecular spectrum of mutations acquired by the progenitor of Omicron…

The molecular spectrum of mutations acquired by the progenitor of Omicron was significantly different from the spectrum for viruses that evolved in human patients, but resembled the spectra associated with virus evolution in a mouse cellular environment”

Preprint: Evidence for a mouse origin of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

 

Preprint: Omicron now binds to mouse ACE2

 

 

 

Image by Cmdragon – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Animals, Coronavirus, Health, Infection, Mice, Omicron, Origins, Reservoir, Transmission

Preprint: Evidence for a mouse origin of the Omicron variant

Pre-outbreak Omicron mutations in the spike protein significantly overlap with mutations in mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2.

The molecular docking-based predictions suggested that the RBD of Omicron exhibited higher binding affinity for mouse ACE2 than that of RBD encoded in the reference SARS-CoV-2 genome, further suggesting an evolutionary history in mice (Fig.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Animals, B.1.1.529, Coronavirus, Mice, Mutation, Omicron, Origins, Reservoir, Transmission, Variants

Preprint: Omicron is the product of extensive evolution that has left no obvious traces of intermediate forms

The Omicron variant identified in Southern Africa in late November 2021 is the product of extensive evolution within an infection context that has so far left no obvious traces of intermediate forms since it diverged from the B.1.1 lineage (presumably at some time in mid to late 2020).… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, B.1.1.529, Coronavirus, Evolution, Infection, Mutation, Omicron, Origins, South Africa, Transmission

Omicron “incubated in an immunocompromized person for months or serially passaged in a lab”

Some interesting developments on the possible origins of the new Omicron variant, B.1.1.529…

… ...More...
Coronaheadsup.com Africa, B.1.1.529, Coronavirus, Czech Republic, England, Europe, Germany, Malawi, Netherlands, Omicron, Origins, South Africa, UK

Evidence of two global Covid waves in 2020, and estimating the pandemic start date

Global Covid waves have been easy to spot in 2021 with their distinctive sine wave pattern, but what about 2020, when testing was largely limited to those with symptoms until late into that year?… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Africa, America, Asia, Australasia, Coronavirus, Deaths, Decoding Sars-Cov-2, Europe, Evolution, Hospitalization, Infection, Origins, Testing, Transmission, USA

Preprint: Coronaviruses with a SARS-CoV-2-like RBD isolated from bats of the Indochinese peninsula

“We found that the RBDs of these viruses differ from that of SARS-CoV-2 by only one or two residues”

Here we show that such viruses indeed circulate in cave bats living in the limestone karstic terrain in North Laos, within the Indochinese peninsula.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Animals, Asia, China, Coronavirus, Infection, Laos, Origins, Reservoir, Transmission

Shi Zhengli: We need to learn to live with the virus

Shi Zhengli, China’s ‘Bat Woman’, has said that new variants of Sars-Cov-2 will continue to emerge, but that vaccines are ‘effective’. … ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com Asia, China, Co-infection, Convergent, Coronavirus, Deaths, Health, Herd Immunity, Hospitalization, Infection, Long Covid, Mental Heath, MIS-C PIMS, Origins, Recombination, Reinfection, Science, Transmission, Vaccine, Vaccine Breakthrough, Vaccine Waning, Variants, Zoonosis

USA: Republican Mike McCaul’s final report into the origins of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic

Mike McCaul’s final report on the origins of the pandemic can be downloaded here.

A House Republican lawmaker’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19 is raising concerns that the pandemic outbreak stemmed from a genetically modified virus which leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese city where the disease was first detected in December 2019.… ...More...

Coronaheadsup.com America, Coronavirus, Deaths, Evolution, Health, Infection, Mutation, Origins, Science, USA, Variants, Zoonosis