Scientific Inquirer Posted on September 24, 2021 by scientificinquirer info https://go.nature.com/2XGP7L4
While the origins of SARS-CoV-2 remain undetermined, researchers are inching ever closer to establishing that the virus most likely emerged naturally from bats and was not engineered in a laboratory.
Bats in Laos Caves Harbor Closest Relatives to Covid-19 Virus .Bloomberg
by Nature, “Scientists have found three viruses in bats in Laos that are more similar to SARS-CoV-2 than any known viruses. Researchers say that parts of their genetic code bolster claims that the virus behind COVID-19 has a natural origin — but their discovery also raises fears that there are numerous coronaviruses with the potential to infect people…
(insert: The discovery is an important clue, but of course if Dr Fauci was sponsoring ‘Gain of Function’ experiments in Wuhan to weaponize coronaviruses, as alleged, these Laotian bats might be precisely the best starting point of the project.)
Closest known relatives of virus behind COVID-19 found in Laos
The results, which are not peer reviewed, have been posted on the preprint server Research Square1. Particularly concerning is that the new viruses contain receptor binding domains that are almost identical to that of SARS-CoV-2, and can therefore infect human cells.
Coronaviruses closely related to the pandemic virus also discovered in Japan and Cambodia
The receptor binding domain allows SARS-CoV-2 to attach to a receptor called ACE2 on the surface of human cells to enter them.” The team of international researchers took saliva, faeces and urine samples from 645 bats in caves in northern Laos.
They discovered viruses in horseshoe bats that are each more than 95% identical to SARS-CoV-2, which they named BANAL-52, BANAL-103 and BANAL-236.
The Free 