Slack / Private Message Drop — page 250

[Eddie Holmes] Interesting. Looking forward to the press on this one. [2020-11-04 15:03:15] [Robert Garry] Opinion: To stop the next pandemic, we need to unravel the origins of COVID-19 View ORCID Profile David A. Relman PNAS first published November 3, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021133117 [2020-11-04 18:03:57] [Eddie Holmes] [thread - ID: 2020-11-04 18:03:57] This is crap: "This argument fails to acknowledge the possibility that two or more as yet undisclosed ancestors (i.e., more proximal ancestors than RaTG13 and RmYN02) had already been discovered and were being studied in a laboratory--for example, one with the SARS-CoV-2 backbone and spike protein receptor-binding domain, and the other with the SARS-CoV-2 polybasic furin cleavage site". (1) RmYN02 was not being worked on; (2) the spike protein receptor-binding domain in both these viruses is completely different to SARS-CoV-2; and (3) RmYN02 does not have a polybasic furin cleavage site. [2020-11-04 20:16:55] [Eddie Holmes] I bet you're jealous: [shared file(s): Screen Shot 2020-11-05 at 3.16.13 pm.png] [2020-11-04 23:14:02] [Andrew Rambaut] [thread - ID: 2020-11-04 18:03:57] @Eddie Holmes I think this is suggesting they may have had another, secret, virus that was the actual progenitor of SC2. So basically they found SC2 in nature, brought it back to the lab, didn't tell anyone, and then it got out. Definitely can't rule that out just by looking at the genome but massively less likely than the same virus making the jump in the 1000s of contact events between humans and animals in the wild/animal trade. [2020-11-04 23:15:39] [Andrew Rambaut] The promotion gigs start rolling in. It will remind Kristian of his youth. Better check the company isn't bank-rolled by the CCP? [2020-11-05 00:52:32] [Eddie Holmes] Obviously I won't be doing this. [2020-11-05 00:55:14] [Eddie Holmes] [thread - ID: 2020-11-04 18:03:57] @Eddie Holmes Yes, you're right. I misread it. BUT where would the RBD come from? Plus still proposes a lot of lying. I expected better of David Relman, [2020-11-05 14:02:35] [Kristian Andersen] Not jealous :point_up_2: [shared file(s): kga.jpg] [2020-11-05 14:03:32] [Kristian Andersen] What else did I miss? Mink? Anything public on the specific mutations? I can see some of these have already been found in human cases, so unclear to me how we know they originated in mink?