Matooke Republic
Sunday, July 13, 2025
  • Home
  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Gossip
  • Features
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Photos
  • Relationships
Matooke Republic
  • Home
  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Gossip
  • Features
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Photos
  • Relationships
No Result
View All Result
Matooke Republic
No Result
View All Result

Research refutes claims coronavirus was engineered in a lab

Norman Mwambazi by Norman Mwambazi
May 4, 2020
in Health
Reading Time: 4 mins read
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

LIVE SCIENCE

By press time, infections of the coronavirus pandemic round the globe hve surpassed the 3.5 million mark, and as it continues spreading, myths and conspiracy theories about it are spreading long with it too.

One persistent myth is that this virus, called SARS-CoV-2, was made by scientists and escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak began.

RELATED POSTS

Qcil celebrates interns in drive to strengthen Africa’s pharmaceutical workforce

Aga Khan University launches direct entry nursing degree in Uganda

A new analysis of SARS-CoV-2 may finally put that latter idea to bed. A group of researchers compared the genome of this novel coronavirus with the seven other coronaviruses known to infect humans: SARS, MERS and SARS-CoV-2, which can cause severe disease; along with HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E, which typically cause just mild symptoms, the researchers wrote March 17 in the journal Nature Medicine.

“Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus,” they write in the journal article.

Kristian Andersen, an associate professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research, and his colleagues looked at the genetic template for the spike proteins that protrude from the surface of the virus. The coronavirus uses these spikes to grab the outer walls of its host’s cells and then enter those cells. They specifically looked at the gene sequences responsible for two key features of these spike proteins: the grabber, called the receptor-binding domain that hooks onto host cells; and the so-called cleavage site that allows the virus to open and enter those cells.

That analysis showed that the “hook” part of the spike had evolved to target a receptor on the outside of human cells called ACE2, which is involved in blood pressure regulation. It is so effective at attaching to human cells that the researchers said the spike proteins were the result of natural selection and not genetic engineering.

Here’s why: SARS-CoV-2 is very closely related to the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which fanned across the globe nearly 20 years ago. Scientists have studied how SARS-CoV differs from SARS-CoV-2 — with several key letter changes in the genetic code. Yet in computer simulations, the mutations in SARS-CoV-2 don’t seem to work very well at helping the virus bind to human cells. If scientists had deliberately engineered this virus, they wouldn’t have chosen mutations that computer models suggest won’t work. But it turns out, nature is smarter than scientists, and the novel coronavirus found a way to mutate that was better — and completely different— from anything scientists could have created, the study found.

Another nail in the “escaped from evil lab” theory?  The overall molecular structure of this virus is distinct from the known coronaviruses and instead most closely resembles viruses found in bats and pangolins that had been little studied and never known to cause humans any harm.

“If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness,” according to a statement from Scripps.

Where did the virus come from? The research group came up with two possible scenarios for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. One scenario follows the origin stories for a few other recent coronaviruses that have wreaked havoc in human populations. In that scenario, we contracted the virus directly from an animal — civets in the case of SARS and camels in the case of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). In the case of SARS-CoV-2, the researchers suggest that animal was a bat, which transmitted the virus to another intermediate animal (possibly a pangolin, some scientists have said) that brought the virus to humans.

In that possible scenario, the genetic features that make the new coronavirus so effective at infecting human cells (its pathogenic powers) would have been in place before hopping to humans.

In the other scenario, those pathogenic features would have evolved only after the virus jumped from its animal host to humans. Some coronaviruses that originated in pangolins have a “hook structure” (that receptor binding domain) similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. In that way, a pangolin either directly or indirectly passed its virus onto a human host. Then, once inside a human host, the virus could have evolved to have its other stealth feature — the cleavage site that lets it easily break into human cells. Once it developed that capacity, the researchers said, the coronavirus would be even more capable of spreading between people.

All of this technical detail could help scientists forecast the future of this pandemic. If the virus did enter human cells in a pathogenic form, that raises the probability of future outbreaks. The virus could still be circulating in the animal population and might again jump to humans, ready to cause an outbreak. But the chances of such future outbreaks are lower if the virus must first enter the human population and then evolve the pathogenic properties, the researchers said.

Related

Tags: ChinaCoronavirusCOVID-19Kristian Andersen
ShareTweetSend
Norman Mwambazi

Norman Mwambazi

Writing is my substitute for worry. Live. Love. Laugh. Be Good.

Related Posts

Did you know that in countries like South Africa, women pin their lovers’ names on their sleeves? Here are the world’s most interesting and famous Valentine’s Day celebrations and traditions

by Matooke Republic
5 months ago

...

Health Ministry says Uganda is prepared to handle Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV): Here is what you need to know about the virus as cases rise in China

by Matooke Republic
6 months ago

...

The Nairobi Expressway in Nairobi, Kenya, February 6, 2023.

China-Africa: Reassessing the neocolonialism smear

by Matooke Republic
11 months ago

...

Absa opens new office in China

by Matooke Republic
1 year ago

...

OPINION: Recognizing economic realities amidst Western fiction

by Matooke Republic
1 year ago

...

Next Post

University students demand tuition refunds saying online classes do not provide the same quality of education as on-campus classrooms

Three patients have recovered from COVID-19, discharged from Entebbe Grade B Hospital

RECOMMENDED

Kabaka’s Lake to be redeveloped into an international urban tourism site

July 12, 2025
A vibrant breakout session during the Billi Now Now Youth Summit 2025, where young changemakers engaged in powerful discussions on leadership innovation and youth empowerment.

RAHU holds third BNN Summit, rallies young people to harness their voices toinfluence a better future

July 12, 2025
  • 643 Followers
  • 23.9k Followers

MOST VIEWED

  • Here is how to use NIRA’s new online portal to register or renew your national ID

    3931 shares
    Share 1572 Tweet 983
  • DNA test confirms late MP Ssegirinya was father to only 4 of 9 children presented after his death

    98 shares
    Share 39 Tweet 25
  • Kampala University proprietor Prof Kateregga’s wife rejects DNA results indicating one of three children is not his, demands fresh test in the United States

    94 shares
    Share 38 Tweet 24
  • Properties owned by late billionaire Aponye at risk of auction over Shs15 billion loan arrears

    78 shares
    Share 31 Tweet 20
  • Pastor Bugingo’s daughter Doreen Gift awarded scholarship to Arizona State University in the US

    61 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
Matooke Republic

Uganda's only free Newspaper. Out every Thursday. Freshly peeled info. kiwatule, Kampala, Uganda.

  • Home
  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Gossip
  • Features
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Photos

© Matooke Republic 2024

© Matooke Republic 2024

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.