Slack / Private Message Drop — page 548

[2021-02-24 13:39:31] [Robert Garry] Just off the phone with Betsy McKay - actually pretty good - they are going to do a series on origins, but just starting. YEs - not a bad idea to run emails by Nature - nothing there that's really a problem - I'm OK with "The Nerd" - I'm owning it! [2021-02-24 13:42:34] [Kristian Andersen] Yeah, might be worth popping this by Nature - questions will for sure be asked ("did they get rejected because their natural hypothesis wasn't supported well enough"? Quite the opposite.... Still pissed about it). [2021-02-24 13:43:00] [Kristian Andersen] Agree, Betsy is pretty good, but I'm unclear about her motives on origins - I guess we'll see... [2021-02-25 05:44:25] [Robert Garry] On topic: Polk awards for Ed Yong, Kai K. and Helen Branswell - seems right. [2021-02-25 06:44:08] [Kristian Andersen] Yup. They have been doing a tremendous job! [2021-02-25 07:51:32] [Robert Garry] B.1.427 and B.1.429 Charles loves the spotlight - has ever since the "heady" days of Bas-Congo Virus. But what really got me intrigued is the W152C mutation. An unpaired cysteine - not likely to be selected for or even tolerated. WTF is a common theme with this virus. So digging into this a bit I have a "theory." The cysteine could be creating a metal chelating spot. SEE FIGURE. Also check back above the two"new cysteines in the Weifeng alignment in the HA321 Rhinolophus stheno, HA363 Rhinolophus malayanus, HA442 Rhinolophus malayanus viruses - same spot in the NTD so these could form a new metal chelating spot with two of the histidines as well [equally likely a new dicysteine loop]. Finally the two new cysteines that popped up in @Kristian Andersen "reinfection" patient could also be doing the metal chelation thing with the histidines or forming their own new dicysteine loop. [shared file(s): image.png] [2021-02-25 07:52:52] [Robert Garry] Someone with a cyroEM really needs to take a look. [2021-02-25 07:55:49] [Kristian Andersen] [thread - ID: 2021-02-25 07:55:49] Interesting... Hasn't it previously been hypothesized that the FCS itself is involved in metal chelation, potentially expanded the receptor usage of the virus? That site is pretty interesting- we also see R and L in that position at times: https://nextstrain.org/ncov/global?c=gt-S_152 [2021-02-25 07:57:44] [Kristian Andersen] I'm talking to Charles later this morning btw - I think he got a little spooked and is realizing that maybe his data is shit... I think the potential transmission advantage of the variant is interesting, so worth looking at that further - but not the way Charles did. Won't matter in a few weeks though - B.1.1.7 is going in for the knockout. [2021-02-25 08:04:53] [Robert Garry]