Chinanews, May 25, a comprehensive report, recently, a number of researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions submitted a paper on the bioRxiv preprint platform. The paper showed that the existing experimental evidence does not support the new crown. The virus originated from the speculation that the laboratory leaked.
Coronavirus research-related papers submitted by researchers on the bioRxiv preprint platform.
(Image source: website screenshot)
This paper is entitled "Identification of a novel lineage bat SARS-related coronaviruses that use bat ACE2 receptor".
According to a report on the 24th by the American Overseas Chinese News Network, the corresponding authors include Shi Zhengli, a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zhou Peng, the head of the Bat Virus Infection and Immunity Division of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The paper reported that when tracking the origin of the 2019 new coronavirus (SARSr-CoV-2) in bats, the research team identified the RaTG13 virus, which has 96.2% genome identity with SARSr-CoV-2, the most so far Close to the genome.
After that, the researchers identified eight new SARSr-CoV sequences, including RaTG15, and performed next-generation sequencing.
Research results show that this new SARSr-CoVs lineage is closely related to SARS-CoV-2 in the RdRP region, but at the genome level, it is far from any known SARSr-CoVs lineage.
Regarding the claim that SARSr-CoV-2 may have been caused by the RaTG13 leak in the laboratory, the paper further emphasized that the existing experimental evidence does not support this conjecture.
On the contrary, pangolin coronavirus shows strong binding ability to human or bat "angiotensin converting enzyme 2" (ACE2), and has high potential for cross-species transmission.
The paper stated that there may be a bat SARSr-CoV that uses human ACE2 more effectively than RaTG13, or there may be a pangolin coronavirus with higher genetic sequence identity.
More systematic and longitudinal sampling of bats, pangolins or other possible intermediate animals is needed to better understand the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
According to previous reports, on January 23, 2020, Shi Zhengli’s team also published an article on the bioRxiv preprint platform entitled "The Discovery of a New Type of Coronavirus and Its Possible Origin of Bats", suggesting that the new type of coronavirus may be derived from bat.
From January 14 to February 10, 2021, 17 Chinese experts and 17 foreign experts formed a joint expert group to carry out the Chinese part of the research on the global traceability of the new crown virus in Wuhan, and the joint research report was released on March 30 .
The report believes that the new coronavirus is "extremely unlikely" to be transmitted to humans through the laboratory, and "more likely to very likely" to be introduced to humans via an intermediate host.