My MDPI Article on the FCS Insert is now Fully Published Online - and Some of the Issues It Revealed

From a theoretical perspective, the various scenarios are very feasible

My recent MDPI article has not been fully published ONLINE.

Website: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/16/2/199

PDF Version: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/16/2/199/pdf

Here is the Graphical Abstract, which only appears in the online version.

As indicated in my first Substack post on this article, I fear that if what I am envisioning is true, it could have far-reaching implications.

In this post, I would like to give a very brief summary of some of my concerns. Some others may take these ideas and extend them to the viral origin question - something, lacking additional information, I do not have the capacity to do.

Part of my work was motivated by the ground-breaking study by Ambati and colleagues, who identified a sequence match of the famous FCS in SARS-CoV-2 to the reverse of a Moderna-patented sequence. In prior work, I had identified specific laboratory scenarios that could have led, or in the same way could lead to the very mysterious FCS integration into SARS-CoV-2. The most recent MDPI article substantially extends my prior work on this.

Although the FCS has drawn lots of attention related to its capacity as a furin cleavage site, astonishingly, it overlaps with at least two other functions of biological relevance. I found strong evidence of reasonable biological mechanisms linking cancer research, oncogenic drugs, human DNA repair pathways, and CoV evolution.

In this article, I did not speculate what this could mean in relation to the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Indeed, I only discuss this extremely mysterious 19-nucleotide portion encompassing the FCS, and not the viral backbone and other origin-relevant questions.

Since my first doctoral degree is in mathematics, I have seen astounding relationships via abstract patterns (mathematicians love to identify relationships and patterns). In biology, I have been blown away by the complexity of life that, IMHO, surpasses everything we could ever imagine.

The many seemingly unrelated aspects that converge in the FCS insert, as seen in SARS-CoV-2, are the most mysterious and fascinating I have ever seen.

I finished my second PhD in Biomedical Sciences in 2014. Then, we were taught notions that still inform current biosecurity and biosafety principles, such as the lock-and-key paradigm and genes as simple building blocks of life. What I have uncovered in this article is the exact opposite. I discuss several overlapping functional elements, all camouflaged behind the viral nucleotide sequence that has mainly attracted attention as an FCS.

In my article, I provide numerous reasons why such a novel sequence in CoVs could have evolved via some recombination events with synthetic RNAs and profoundly shape the pathogen-host interplay. I envision that some of the gained biological functions could, on the one hand, endow the virus with profound survival benefits whilst impairing the most essential host functions. The tragedy is that such new inserts could emerge during several very legitimate research contexts. As such, the things I uncover raise ongoing unresolved biorisk concerns.

Overall, I provide strong evidence that large classes of viruses may recombine with synthetic RNAs during specific cell culture experiments, making them much more dangerous, analogous to how bacteria acquire antibiotic genes from their environment. However, here, it may unfold in the context of numerous research settings that fall outside of current biorisk regulation and oversight.

I am not aware that the underlying processes have been described before. All this could have far-reaching implications, potentially impacting notions of past events, but, tragically, even more so, future ones.

Therefore, please read and share if you think it’s appropriate.