Important work here from @edwardcholmes & colleagues providing more evidence that insertions in spike proteins of bat & pangolin SARSr-CoVs show similarities across diff CoVs & therefore arise naturally. virological.org/t/spike-protei…
“..there have been suggestions that scientists should stop investigating the diversity of coronaviruses in bats & other animals (Baker, 2021). We contend that the world should do the opposite if we are to be better prepared to prevent the next pandemic of an emergent coronavirus”
“[these new bat-CoVs] possess different combinations of spike motifs in ..RBD & S1/S2 junction that were 1st described in SARS-CoV-2. These observations are consistent with the natural origin of SARS-CoV-2 & strongly inconsistent with a laboratory origin.”
I like the final words of the conclusions: “Studies of coronavirus diversity in bats and other species must continue.” Hear! Hear!
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