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Slack / Private Message Drop, p.896 · slack_pm:msg:09294

Date: 2021-05-29 18:32 (hour precision)
Type: chat message · slack
recipient: Robert F. Garry, Edward C. Holmes, Andrew Rambaut
speaker: Kristian G. Andersen

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Yeah, I'm thinking it's somebody who got a short RdRp fragment, did a blast, pulled down related / relevant sequences and created the tree. That wouldn't really mean much - unless, of course, it came from Shi's group. Would be good to ask.

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2021-05-29 18:32 Kristian G. Andersen open

SLACK_001110 That'd be great. If I looked at that tree and I was Shi, my first thought would be - FUCK, did 4991 get out? Yet, she/they decided not to hide the similarity (of course, it would have been noticed anyway because 4991 was ina public database, but there's just no way they'd be thinking that way).
2021-05-29 18:32 Kristian G. Andersen open

The sequences all have NCBI accession numbers, so probably from NCBI.
2021-05-29 18:32 Kristian G. Andersen open

Is it possible to confirm the tree is from Shi's lab?
2021-05-29 18:32 Edward C. Holmes open

Yes, thinking about it you are probably right. Damn! I will check with I assumed it was Shi's group because they were the only people thinking about 4991, but on reflection it cou someone at CCDC.
2021-05-29 18:32 Kristian G. Andersen

Yeah, I'm thinking it's somebody who got a short RdRp fragment, did a blast, pulled down related / relevant sequences and created the tree. That wouldn't really mean much - unless, of course, it came from Shi's group. Would be good to ask.
2021-05-29 18:32 Edward C. Holmes open

I've just emailed him. I agree though...it does look like a GenBank compilation.
2021-05-29 18:32 Edward C. Holmes open

It's the hope that gets you.
2021-05-29 18:32 Kristian G. Andersen open

|_would_ love to know what happened after that tree was circulated though - image getting that hit, seeing how close 4991 is and then looking up the metadata [shared file(s): Screen Shot 2021-05-29 at 10.51.15 PM.png]
2021-05-29 18:32 Kristian G. Andersen open

After that realization, you have _got_ to ask yourself "did 4991 just escape from WIV". There's just no other way around it - would love to know what happened the days right after.

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