Pathogenic engineering
Izvestia has found a patent for the "invisible" assembly of the genome of viruses
This method makes it possible to imperceptibly refine SARS-like microorganisms
Anna Urmantseva, Izvestia
The method of assembling the genome of viruses, which allows creating new pathogens without visible traces of laboratory intervention, was patented back in 2002, Izvestia found out. The technology belongs to Ralph Barik of the University of North Carolina. Since 2015, he has been collaborating with another leading expert on the genetic interaction of bat and human coronaviruses, Shi Zhengli from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. If the Barik method is used, it is impossible to find out that the virus has been modified in the laboratory, experts interviewed by Izvestia say. However, the existence of such a method does not prove that it was applied to the coronavirus that caused the current pandemic, scientists emphasize.
20 years ago
Scientific articles and patents that appeared before the pandemic describe in some detail the possibilities for targeted assembly of viral genomes. One of the pioneers in this field is the American scientist Ralph Barik from the University of North Carolina. The scientist has worked with coronaviruses all his life, and in 2015 he wrote a joint article with Chinese scientist Shi Zhengli from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The work is devoted to increasing the pathogenicity of coronaviruses, Izvestia wrote earlier.
Ralph Barik owns several patents. In 2002, his application for an invention entitled "Methods for obtaining recombinant coronavirus" (No. 7279327) was accepted. This patent describes a method for targeted modification of viruses of the families Coronaviridae (coronaviruses) and Arteriviridae.
"Coronaviruses are currently preferred," the patent says.
It says that "although the present invention is described primarily in relation to the porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (caused by a coronavirus – Izvestia), the invention can be implemented with any coronavirus, such as human respiratory coronavirus, swine respiratory coronavirus, canine coronavirus, feline intestinal coronavirus, feline infectious peritonitis virus, rabbit coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus".
According to the goals and objectives
The patent also notes that the method allows to "re-target" the coronavirus to any species of mammals. In addition, the document says: "the insertion can be made from any DNA and RNA, in particular from a source that is not a coronavirus." This greatly expands the capabilities of those who make targeted changes to the genome.
– Viruses are those organisms that have independently adapted to deliver information to our cells. From this point of view, they are very interesting to scientists," explained Pavel Volchkov, head of the Laboratory of Genomic Engineering at MIPT. – Human viruses are of great interest from this point of view. Americans and Chinese have been particularly invested in these studies since 2002, when the first SARS-CoV was launched. In parallel, they began to develop reverse genetics tools. With the help of these tools, following the instructions in the form of a four-letter genetic code, it is possible to fully synthesize the genome of the virus.
Pavel Volchkov stressed: it's not about inventing a completely new virus, but about assembling it "according to the instructions".
– If scientists have the opportunity to assemble a virus using reverse genetics, then they can insert any replacements there, – the expert explained. – And now these modifications can be made absolutely "seamless".
The Invisible Creator
Later, in 2006, Ralph Barik registered a patent entitled "Compositions of coronaviruses with a recombination-resistant genome" (No. 7618802).
– This patent (as well as the previous one No. 7279327) describes, using the example of coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV, how it is possible to create different synthetic viable or partially active variants of the virus for research purposes, – explained Konstantin Krutovsky, professor of the Department of Genomics and Bioinformatics of SibFU, Professor of the University of Göttingen. – They can be either identical to the original viruses, or those that do not occur in nature. However, they are able to infect human and laboratory animal cell cultures.
Thanks to the discoveries of Ralph Barik, genomes can be assembled without any signs of human work. The scientist called it the "no-see-me" method and claimed that it has "a wide and largely underestimated application in molecular biology." Ralph Barik named his method after invisible biting insects that can be found on the beaches of North Carolina. They are popularly called no-see-ums ("invisible") and are part of a group of blood-sucking small insects under the common name "midge".
In 2015, Ralph Barik began collaborating with Shi Zhengli, an outstanding expert on coronaviruses from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
According to the Intelligencer magazine, in 2015, Ralph Barik's laboratory received $8.3 million from the National Institutes of Health, in 2016 - $ 10.5 million.
Mysterious insertion
The presence of methods of "seamless" insertion of inserts into the genomes of coronaviruses, as well as their targeted assembly, does not mean that SARS-CoV-2 has a laboratory origin.
As you know, scientists consider the furin insertion in the coronavirus genome, which consists of 12 nucleotides, to be the most suspicious. Experts agree that this insert could not have appeared inside the SARS-CoV-2 genome either by duplication or by recombination with the genomes of the same virus. There is a completely different nucleotide composition.
Izvestia asked for explanations from a virologist, a leading researcher at the National Center for Biotechnological Information of the National Medical Library of the National Institutes of Health of the USA, a recognized expert in evolutionary and computational biology Evgeny Kunin. A few months ago, a scientist took up the study of a "suspicious" insertion in the coronavirus genome and the question of its origin.
– No, we have not found out exactly where the furin insert comes from, and it is unlikely that we will ever find out, - Yevgeny Kunin told Izvestia. – This is still a very short nucleotide sequence, and if it has changed after being acquired by the virus, then it is hopeless. However, we have made some progress in elucidating the origin of other inserts in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. They occur not so infrequently as a result of errors in viral RNA polymerase. There is nothing mysterious, of course, in this.
The origin of the insert was also investigated by the famous Russian bioinformatician Alexander Panchin. According to him, the appearance of furin sites occurred independently six times in betacoronaviruses. The scientist referred to a study published in Stem Cell Research.
– Six times is a minimum, only for known betacoronaviruses, – said Alexander Panchin. – Therefore, if, on the basis of such an insertion, the artificiality of SARS-CoV-2 is deduced, then a whole bunch of viruses will have to be blamed for artificiality, some of which have existed for quite a long time and do not infect people.
The bioinformatician agrees that absolutely any viral genome can be "printed".
– But from the fact that something can theoretically be created in the laboratory, it does not follow at all that it was created in the laboratory, - Alexander Panchin emphasized. – The question of whether I admit any probability of the laboratory origin of SARS-CoV-2 reminds me of the question of the existence of God. You can admit anything, but in science it is customary to provide evidence.
As is known, there is no such evidence yet regarding the laboratory origin of the new coronavirus.
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