The research group of former PLA scientist Yigang Tong has published a new paper showing a "pangolin" coronavirus (GX_P2V) variant is 100% fatal to hACE2 mice likely due to infection of the brain.
biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
Although previous studies the group did (including a collaboration with WIV) did not show this lethality, they now suggest that mutations gained through passaging in cell culture may have resulted in a far more lethal variant.
But the provenance of this virus is still dubious. Did it really come from pangolins?
Although the paper offers references regarding the identification and isolation of GX_P2V there is no info in these on who isolated it, when and how.
A Tong paper from Feb 2020 suggests Tong's group (though it's written in the passive voice). But it references the Tommy Lam/Eddie Holmes paper as the source. And their paper doesn't say either.
journals.lww.com/cmj/Fulltext/2…
The Genbank entry shows the sequence came from the AMMS.
And another AMMS officer Ruifu Yang separately indicated it came from "certain [secret] institutions".
Yigang Tong now states his affiliation as Beijing Institute for Chemical Technolgy but he has a long history at AMMS, and did his PhD there.
A recruitment notice for his new group provides some interesting biographical details.
scc.pku.edu.cn/download.actio…
Between 2016-2019 when AMMS isolated the pangolin coronavirus, Tong was working on a major secret research project with a USD 5 million budget.
The main duties of his new recruit include "optimization of coronavirus GX_P2V virus infection system" 😬
Perhaps this new potentially human lethal version indicates the optimization was successful?
Interestingly Yigang Tong has been quite insistent that Racoon Dogs and Huanan market were NOT the source of SARS-CoV-2. This is consistent with George Gao's comments on the subject. Clearly China's official line is still that pangolins are to blame.
english.scio.gov.cn/pressroom/node…
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