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comment by mk
mk  ·  1691 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: State Department cables warned of safety issues at Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses

Oh geez. This from Zhengli in 2010:

"Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) proteins of different bat species confer variable susceptibility to SARS-CoV entry"

    ACE2 from M. daubentoni was chosen to generate a series of ACE2 mutants using a QuikChange II Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Stratagene, USA).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7086629/|

b_b you should check out this rabbithole...





b_b  ·  1691 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I really really don't want to but I'll probably be reading all afternoon now. Thanks.

mk  ·  1691 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Here's another one: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2258702/

    ...Second, as predicted, sequence variation in the N-terminal region of the SL-CoV S protein rendered it incapable of using ACE2 as a receptor for cell entry. However, the ACE2-binding activity of SL-CoVs was easily acquired by the replacement of a relatively small sequence segment of the S protein from the SARS-CoV S sequence, highlighting the potential dangers posed by this diverse group of viruses in bats. It is now well documented that bat species, including horseshoe bats, can be infected by different CoVs. Coinfection by different CoVs in an individual bat has also been observed (26, 29, 39). Knowing the capability of different CoVs to recombine both in the laboratory (2, 14, 15, 32) and in nature (22, 41, 44), the possibility that SL-CoVs may gain the ability to infect human cells by acquiring S sequences competent for binding to ACE2 or other surface proteins of human cells can be readily envisaged.
b_b  ·  1691 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    First, the SL-CoV S was unable to use any of the three ACE2 molecules as its receptor.

Guess they solved that problem 😐