After infecting humans, genetic mutations have increased dramatically.
　　There is new evidence that the new coronavirus originated in nature

　　International war "epidemic" operation

　　Our reporter in Russia Dong Yingbi

　　Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, researchers around the world have been racing against time to investigate, analyze and scientifically research it. In addition to studying how to prevent and treat patients with new coronary pneumonia, a large part of the research questions focus on how the new coronavirus is produced, when and where it first appeared, and when it began to spread from person to person. Whether the virus comes from bats, whether there is an intermediate host before it is transmitted to humans, and why the new coronavirus can spread from person to person so quickly. More than half a year has passed, and the scientific community has no consensus on the above issues. In the near future, Russian scientists' research on some of these issues may be of great significance.

　　Alexander Panchin, a biologist at the Institute of Information Transmission Issues of the Russian Academy of Sciences, came to an important conclusion after analyzing a large number of mutations in the genome of the new coronavirus: the new coronavirus originated in nature.

　　Alexander Panchin published relevant research results in the Peer Review Journal of Science (PeerJ). The Russian TASS News Agency (hereinafter referred to as ETA News Agency) and "Izvestia" and other media also reported on this.

　　Ita news agency reported that Alexander Panchin compared the accumulation of point mutations in the genomes of the new coronavirus, SARS virus (SARS) and the common cold virus, and studied the relative gene mutation probability of these viruses after infecting humans. After comparing more than 1,000 new coronavirus genomes, more than 200 SARS viruses and more than 40 common cold virus genomes, as well as the genes of some similar animal coronaviruses, the researchers found that there are 1,000 new coronavirus genomes in all human infections. -2000 genetic mutations, which means that genetic mutations basically only appear after people are infected by the virus.

　　Researchers have further studied these mutant genes and found that the new coronavirus has a very significant feature, which does not exist in other coronaviruses. There are many abnormal mutations in the genome of the new coronavirus that cause the guanine (G) molecule in the gene to be replaced by uracil (U), and guanine is one of the four "letters" that make up the RNA and DNA chain. The proportion of mutations in the genome of the new coronavirus is close to 15%, which is almost 10 times that of the new coronavirus before it infects people.

　　Alexander Panchin pointed out: "We found that the proportion of guanine mutated to uracil in the new coronavirus genome has increased by almost 10 times after the virus is transmitted to humans, and this feature is hardly manifested in the genome of the SARS virus pathogen. , The cold virus genome does not have such characteristics."

　　Alexander Panchin said that the study also found that the amount of guanine replaced by uracil before and after other similar coronaviruses infects humans is basically the same. He said that this unique feature of the new coronavirus also exists in the virus genes of the United States, China and other countries.

　　Based on this characteristic of the new coronavirus, Alexander Panchin proposed that the new coronavirus infected bats a long time ago, but the cells of the bats protect themselves very well. This virus has fewer mutations in the body of the bat, and the bat cells and the new coronavirus Symbiosis; and when the new coronavirus infects humans, human tissues do not have the protective features to deal with this virus. The human body may have a high level of oxidative stress, which leads to the destruction of many guanines in genes and the accumulation of mutated genes. When it accumulates to a certain extent, the nature changes, and the virus becomes aggressive.

　　Alexander Panchin believes that the above research results show that the new coronavirus originated in nature.

　　According to statistics from the World Health Organization, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia worldwide has exceeded 19 million, and the cumulative number of deaths has exceeded 700,000. The epidemic is still spreading rapidly around the world. It is urgent for countries around the world to improve the ability to prevent and treat the new coronavirus. Facing the problem of tracing the source of the new coronavirus, global scientists still have a long way to go.

　　(Science and Technology Daily, Moscow, August 10)