Does the discovery of a new coronavirus upend the Covid-19 lab-leak hypothesis?
Sequence found in Sars-CoV-2 had never been seen in another bat coronavirus until now
A new coronavirus discovered in a Brazilian bat appears to boost the likelihood that the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, which caused the Covid-19 pandemic, evolved naturally in bats, as opposed to the controversial claim that it was engineered in a Chinese lab.
One of the key characteristics of Sars-CoV-2 that meant that it was so infectious was that it possesses a furin cleavage site (FCS) on its surface spike proteins. This means the spikes can bind to the enzyme furin protease, which is present throughout the body, and this helps split the spike proteins more easily – a process that enables the virus to fuse with and infect cells.