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A comment on Scientists claim to find HIV virus-like insertions in the 2019-nCov [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:Scientists claim to find HIV virus-like insertions in the... by folli on Friday January 31, 2020 @06:09PM (#22206925)
I have not heard from this guy before (I work in microbial genomics, he seems to be in the field of health economics from a quick search), so I can't comment on that.
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Re:Scientists claim to find HIV virus-like insertions in the... by perseusprime11 on Friday January 31, 2020 @06:24PM (#22207035)
Outside of the assertion that it is related to HIV, does the original argument around deliberate insertions hold any water?
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Re:Scientists claim to find HIV virus-like insertions in the... by folli on Friday January 31, 2020 @06:41PM (#22207154)
Occam's razor says no. The coronavirus spike protein is responsible for receptor binding and entry into the cell. Different strains with different hosts bind to different receptors, so they have differences in their spike protein sequences. Mutations in the spike protein are expected in the evolution of coronavirus.
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Re:Scientists claim to find HIV virus-like insertions in the... by 45ure on Friday January 31, 2020 @06:12PM (#22206938)
Your reply is much appreciated.
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