Coronavirus 2019-2020 thread (no unsubstantiated rumours!)

[KYli]

It is good that Sinovac vaccine still works on new variants.

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[plawolf]

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Just when you think the British couldn’t stoop any lower, they are now deliberately infecting people to gain more data on Covid. Imagine the condemnation and outcry if China did this.

 

[vesicles]

And humans share 98% of our DNA with pigs.

That 96% is used to fool scientifically illiterate people into thinking that’s a ‘smoking gun’ level of proof when it’s to be expected that most coronavirus strains would have fairly high percentages of genetic similarities.

The primarily reason no detailed genetic comparison with coronavirus found elsewhere naturally in the world is because China is one of the few nations to have done much previous detailed dna analysis on coronaviruses due to SARS.

There is a big caveat/myth in the genomic similarities among different organisms. Pigs, monkeys and human share 95-98% of their working genome. “Working” genome means protein-coding genomic sequences. But this part of genome comprises only 1 - 1.5% of our whole genome. Yes, that’s right. Single digit percentage. Other non-protein coding sequences don’t code any working proteins, but play important roles in regulating how those proteins are translated. Different organisms have drastically different non-coding sequences. These differences mainly contribute to the apparent differences in human, pigs and monkeys.

The “96%” similarity between SARS-CoV-2 and the local coronavirus is shared among the entire genomic sequence, including both protein-coding and non-coding sequences. That’s a striking similarity.

 

[manqiangrexue]

There is a big caveat/myth in the genomic similarities among different organisms. Pigs, monkeys and human share 95-98% of their working genome. “Working” genome means protein-coding genomic sequences. But this part of genome comprises only 1 - 1.5% of our whole genome. Yes, that’s right. Single digit percentage. Other non-protein coding sequences don’t code any working proteins, but play important roles in regulating how those proteins are translated. Different organisms have drastically different non-coding sequences. These differences mainly contribute to the apparent differences in human, pigs and monkeys.

Could you post a source for this? I'm not aware that intronic DNA is vastly different between humans and chimps/pigs and that that mainly contributes to the difference in their development as organisms. I'm under the impression that the phenotypic differences in species are due mainly to the minute differences in exonic, or coded DNA and the vast similarities are due to the same basic cellular requirements to live on earth.

This paper is a study on the intronic divergence between humans and chimpanzees and if I'm not mistaken (which I might be because I only briefly scanned it), it says that "Introns have an average human-chimpanzee divergence of 1.018% (measured as Ki, the percentage of nucleotide changes per intron)..."

Patterns and rates of intron divergence between humans and chimpanzees​

PMID:

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The “96%” similarity between SARS-CoV-2 and the local coronavirus is shared among the entire genomic sequence, including both protein-coding and non-coding sequences. That’s a striking similarity.

Is it? Is there a coronavirus chart that shows similarity between different well-known strains across the world? Being coronaviruses should make their basic DNA markedly similar. How much is generally modified to make the the differences between say SARS-COV-1, SARS-COV-2, MERS, and other more common less lethal kinds? Is there a chart published somewhere to make the conclusion that 96% is striking?

 

[KYli]

There is a big caveat/myth in the genomic similarities among different organisms. Pigs, monkeys and human share 95-98% of their working genome. “Working” genome means protein-coding genomic sequences. But this part of genome comprises only 1 - 1.5% of our whole genome. Yes, that’s right. Single digit percentage. Other non-protein coding sequences don’t code any working proteins, but play important roles in regulating how those proteins are translated. Different organisms have drastically different non-coding sequences. These differences mainly contribute to the apparent differences in human, pigs and monkeys.

The “96%” similarity between SARS-CoV-2 and the local coronavirus is shared among the entire genomic sequence, including both protein-coding and non-coding sequences. That’s a striking similarity.

But most scientists claimed it would take at least decades for 96% genomic sequence similarity to evolve to the current form.

 

[localizer]

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We're 38% cucumber XD

 

[vesicles]

Could you post a source for this? I'm not aware that intronic DNA is vastly different between humans and chimps/pigs and that that mainly contributes to the difference in their development as organisms. I'm under the impression that the phenotypic differences in species are due mainly to the minute differences in exonic, or coded DNA and the vast similarities are due to the same basic cellular requirements to live on earth.

This paper is a study on the intronic divergence between humans and chimpanzees and if I'm not mistaken (which I might be because I only briefly scanned it), it says that "Introns have an average human-chimpanzee divergence of 1.018% (measured as Ki, the percentage of nucleotide changes per intron)..."

Patterns and rates of intron divergence between humans and chimpanzees​

PMID:

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Is it? Is there a coronavirus chart that shows similarity between different well-known strains across the world? Being coronaviruses should make their basic DNA markedly similar. How much is generally modified to make the the differences between say SARS-COV-1, SARS-COV-2, MERS, and other more common less lethal kinds? Is there a chart published somewhere to make the conclusion that 96% is striking?

Intronic similarities between human and mouse is only 35%.

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Yes, human and chimpanzees are very close cousins. They share very similar genomes. But plawolf is talking about genomic similarities among apparently different organisms, like human and pig. My point has been the 96% similarities of the whole genome is very significant.

I will need more time to find sources for the comparisons of different coronaviruses.

 

[KYli]

Different administration but the same tactics. Deflect blame to others.

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[manqiangrexue]

Intronic similarities between human and mouse is only 35%.

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Yes, human and chimpanzees are very close cousins. They share very similar genomes. But plawolf is talking about genomic similarities among apparently different organisms, like human and pig. My point has been the 96% similarities of the whole genome is very significant.

I will need more time to find sources for the comparisons of different coronaviruses.

OK, but if the entire genomic similarity including introns is some 99% between humans and chimps which diverge at the genus level, 96% really doesn't sound too high for 2 coronaviridae.

 

[AndrewS]

Coronavirus: is China ready for the mRNA vaccine revolution?​

Addressing the 4,000 people at the China Biological Products Annual Conference in Zhuhai in southern China, George Gao Fu said it was highly likely that mRNA vaccines would have the ultimate power to fight the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

“The technology is fast, potent and induces longer immunity, from cellular to humoral immunity,” Gao said, referring to anitbody-mediated immunity.

“You are the heavyweights of the industry. I hope you will give thought tonight about whether your company should make a transition and whether you should start to make arrangements to work on mRNA vaccines.”

Xiang Zuoyun, chief strategy officer with Chinese vaccine developer Walvax Biotechnology, said this was the start of something new.

“[mRNA] is excellent technology for developing viral vaccines in the future and it is very likely that, in 20 or 30 years, all vaccines will use it. The trend is quite obvious,” Xiang said. “I feel we are witnessing the beginning of a new vaccine era.”

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Comment: mRNA vaccines are more effective, and more easily adaptable towards new strains like B117 that will keep emerging. The US already has a head start and is beating the world at vaccination pace. Once the new variants like B117 become predominant, China's vaccines may not work anymore, whereas the US will have a vaccinated population and a more effective vaccines to offer the world, with better technology. At that time China will be in trouble. The US will say 'China caused the disease, we give you the cure (mRNA vaccine).

@gadgetcool5

Your concern that China is behind on mRNA vaccines appears to be unjustified.

The base assumption should be that China can catchup or surpass anything the USA does, given enough time.
China has a very good track record of doing this over the past 20 years.

And going forward, China now has:

1. a larger marketplace for most categories of goods and services
2. more science and engineering talent
3. as well as higher R&D spending, as per the NSF.

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