Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 22, recently, some speculations about the origin of the new coronavirus have been circulating on the media and social platforms, such as “New Coronavirus Man-made Theory” and “New Coronavirus Originated in the Laboratory”.

However, international authoritative institutions and most scholars in the field of virology and immunology all said that these speculations lack scientific support, and all the evidence so far shows that the new coronavirus is not artificially manufactured.


First, the existing scientific evidence has shown that the characteristics of the new coronavirus are impossible to achieve by human operation, and can only be the product of natural evolution. The international team participated by the Scripps Research Institute and other institutions in the United States reported in the British “Nature Medicine” on March 17th that they analyzed and compared the genome data of multiple coronaviruses including new coronaviruses. The high binding efficiency of the receptor binding domain of the spike protein of the new coronavirus and the “angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)” receptor of human cells is beyond the reach of human genetic engineering. In addition, the unique molecular architecture of the new coronavirus also excludes the possibility that it is synthesized in the laboratory, because people cannot find a similar known viral molecular architecture to construct this new virus.

“By comparing the (new coronavirus) genome sequence data with (other) known coronavirus strains, we can determine that the new coronavirus originated from a natural process.” Christian Anderson, associate professor at the Scripps Research Institute, who leads the research, said in a communiqué.


Second, some of the evolutionary characteristics of the new coronavirus are not unique. Researchers can find similar evolutionary events in nature, which further supports the conclusion that it originated in nature. A pre-printed paper published by researchers from the Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions in March stated that there are multiple amino acid insertions at the cleavage site between the two protein subunits S1 and S2 of the spike protein of the new crown virus. They have similar insertions between the S1 and S2 subunits of the coronavirus strains they obtained from bats in Yunnan, suggesting that such insertions are possible in nature.


Third, scientists have found coronavirus strains in wild animals that are very close to the new coronavirus, indicating that such viruses exist in natural hosts. The closest coronavirus known to date to the new coronavirus is the RaTG13 strain isolated from bats in Yunnan, which has a 96% sequence identity with the new coronavirus genome; in addition, studies have shown that coronaviruses carried by pangolins are The new coronavirus kinship is also relatively close, especially in helping the virus invadeThe spike protein receptor binding domain of the cell is 97.4% similar to the new coronavirus, indicating that the pangolin may be involved in the evolution and spread of the new coronavirus.

Virology researcher Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney, Australia, who participated in the aforementioned international research team, recently issued a statement saying that coronavirus is usually found in wild animals and often ” “Transition” to a new host, which is the most likely explanation for the origin of the new coronavirus. He said that the number, diversity and evolution of coronaviruses in wild animals all support the idea that the new coronavirus is a product of natural evolution, and determining the exact source of the new coronavirus requires large-scale sampling and detection of animals in nature.

In addition, the reason that the new coronavirus originated in the laboratory is also far-fetched. Eric Leroy, an expert in tropical virology at the French Development Institute, said that French virologist and Nobel laureate Luc Montanier and others believed that the new coronavirus originated in the laboratory because the new coronavirus genome Some fragments are the same as those of the HIV genome, but it is common for certain viruses to carry the same tiny gene fragments as other viruses because the genome is very large. Leroy introduced that they compared the genomes of the new coronavirus and other viruses through a specific algorithm, and found that the smaller the gene fragment of interest, the more they will find that the new coronavirus carries similar fragments with far-related viruses.

World Health Organization spokesperson Fadela Shaib said on the 21st that WHO is currently fighting two “pandemics”, namely the new crown epidemic. Popularity and “false information pandemic”. Many experts also emphasized the need to be alert to the political purpose behind the fallacies such as “New Crown Virus Man-made Theory” and “New Crown Virus Originated in the Laboratory”.

French immunologist and head of the New Crown Outbreak Scientific Committee Jean-Francois Del Fresi said that the assumption that the new crown virus originated in the laboratory is “one A conspiracy theory that does not belong to the real scientific category. ” Hassan Wally, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Leduco, Australia, pointed out that some people use the rumors for political purposes, “we must be careful not to give rumors a living space.” Alexander Semenov, deputy director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Federation ’s Consumer Protection and Public Welfare Supervision Office, believes that some people claim that the new coronavirus is derived from artificial manufacturing “to cover up its health Systemic incompetence or resistance to faults in epidemic situations “. (Participating reporters: Zhang Ying, Zhang Jiawei, Guo Yang, Chen Chen, Liu Qu, Luan Hai)

(Originally entitled “News Analysis: Why” New Crown Virus Man-made Theory ” Untenable “)