Slack / Private Message Drop — page 540

I agree about the zoonosis as a route from things like bats into humans especially as these mustelids seem such good models for humans. But I just can't get excited about animal transmission as a source of variants. [2021-02-22 09:01:17] [Andrew Rambaut] Would need to be some funky epistatic interactions to get somewhere that is not readily reachable in humans in the first place. [2021-02-22 09:25:55] [Robert Garry] I'd like to see how Dougless and prePhil do in minks/ferrets - are they like the monkeys? Also not having mink farms is not going to change "quality of life" for anyone except people like Ivanka and of course the mink farmers. Raise ferrets instead and let's use them to figure out better Cov/flu vaccines and drugs. [2021-02-22 09:51:24] [Robert Garry] [thread - ID: 2021-02-21 15:18:13] @Kristian Andersen The T372A change is in the CTD, it does not likely interact with ACE2 at any level so I don't think it's in the RBD per se. Maybe this is just me. But *YES* indeed look at N519H/K [lot's of aspartic acid and histadine mutations popping up in variants - just like in the flu adaptations btw]. Good spot @Kristian Andersen It's symmetrical with the T372. What are these two changes doing you might ask? If I had to guess it has to do with the "flipping up" of the CTD to better expose the RBD. Spike exists in two confirmations: closed (CTD down) and open (CTD flipped up) - it would surprising to me if both of these changes didn't favor "open." [shared file(s): image.png] [2021-02-22 10:01:52] [Kristian Andersen] [thread - ID: 2021-02-21 15:18:13] @Kristian Andersen Ohhh, interesting. Hmmm - some functional stuff here would be cool... [2021-02-22 10:03:34] [Robert Garry] [thread - ID: 2021-02-21 15:18:13] @Kristian Andersen Those mutations are also likely epitopes so factor that in. [2021-02-22 10:11:57] [Robert Garry] [thread - ID: 2021-02-22 07:33:00] @Kristian Andersen BTW Yuri seems to have graduated to ClustalW, so I guess none of us stand a chance anymore. [2021-02-22 11:35:07] [Eddie Holmes] I think 'bioweapon' was more of an allegory. And clearly the endemic circulation of the virus in humans is more of a worry than any spill-back to animals. [2021-02-22 11:52:10] [Robert Garry] [thread - ID: 2021-02-21 15:18:13] @Kristian Andersen And, of course the lack of a glycan at N370 because of the T372A also a big deal. [2021-02-22 12:19:46] [Eddie Holmes] In the sprit of reconciliation I suggest we ask Yuri to go on these fun runs: https://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/man-fundraises-by-running-in-shape-of-penises-7564206