Malevolent Designer News - A Little More About How Brilliantly SARS-CoV-2 is Designed for Killing People

1. Rotavirus RNAs have a 5′ cap but not a 3′ poly(A) tail. Its NSP3 protein (instead of PABP) binds to the 3′ end of the viral mRNA and interacts with eIF‐4G directly to maintain the closed‐loop RNA for the initiation of viral RNA translation and to block host mRNA circularization (Piron et al, 1998
2. Picornavirus RNA has an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) in the 5′ untranslated region and a 3′ poly(A) tail. Viral protease (2A or leader) digests eIF‐4G. The truncated eIF‐4G shows higher efficiency in the IRES‐driven translation than the cap‐dependent translation (Ohlmann et al, 1995; Ali et al, 2001).
3. Coronavirus RNAs have a 5′ cap and a 3′ poly(A) tail. In our model, SUD associates with the 40S/80S ribosome and enhances the PABP:Paip1 interaction to stimulate the host translation machinery. Meanwhile, coronaviral Nsp1 specifically cleaves host mRNAs (green) but not viral RNAs (Kamitani et al, 2006; Huang et al, 2011). Also, viral Nsp1 blocks host mRNA binding to the 40S ribosome. As a result, SARS‐CoV could increase the viral RNA translation but inhibit host mRNA translation.

How SARS coronaviruses reprogram host cells to their own benefit | News - LMU München

For those Intelligent [sic] Design advocates who are not embarrassed by the evident malevolent sadism of their putative designer, this sort of information should thrill and delight them.

Scientists working at the University of Lübeck, Germany and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany have discovered the brilliant mechanism by which the SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses reprogram our cells to reproduce many more copies of the viruses than other coronaviruses, such as those causing the common cold.

They suggest that this may account for the much higher pathogenicity of these two viruses compared to the other coronaviruses. Their findings appeared, open access, in The EMBO Journal 2021, two days ago.

The relevent details are in the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität news release:

Coronavirus researchers led by Professor Rolf Hilgenfeld of the University of Lübeck and PD Dr. Albrecht von Brunn of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München have discovered how SARS viruses enhance the production of viral proteins in infected cells, so that many new copies of the virus can be generated. Notably, coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 do not use this mechanism, which may therefore provide a possible explanation for the much higher pathogenicity of the SARS viruses. The findings appear in the EMBO Journal.

Coronaviruses that cause harmless colds in humans were discovered more than 50 years ago. When it emerged in 2002/2003, the SARS coronavirus was the first coronavirus found to cause severe pneumonia in infected people. Comparisons of the RNA genomes of innocuous coronaviruses with those of the SARS coronavirus permitted researchers to identify a region that only occurred in the latter, and was called the "SARS-unique domain" (SUD). Such genomic regions and their protein products might be linked to the extraordinary pathogenicity of SARS coronavirus and its cousin, the COVID-19 virus SARS-CoV-2.

The research groups led by Hilgenfeld and von Brunn showed that the SUD proteins of these two viruses interact with a human protein called Paip-1, which is involved in the first steps of protein synthesis. Together with Paip-1 and other proteins in human cells, SUD apparently binds to the ribosomes, the molecular machines that are responsible for protein synthesis in cells. This would lead to an enhancement of the production of all proteins, both those of the host cell and those of the virus. However, in cells infected with SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2, the messenger RNA molecules that code for host proteins are selectively destroyed by a viral protein named Nsp1. As a result of this complicated process, the infected cell predominantly produces viral proteins, so that many new copies of the virus can be created.

Albrecht von Brunn’s research group discovered the interaction between the proteins SUD and Paip-1 several years ago. "Being an experienced coronavirologist, I knew that one has to inspect the special regions of the SARS genome when trying to understand this virus,” he says.

[My emphasis]

Ingenious, or what?!

The Church of English Racists

Church of England congregation.

BBC Panorama programme 'Is the Church Racist?' | The Church of England

An insight into one of the reasons the Church of England has suffered such a massive decline in membership and attendance was revealed in a BBC Panorama program a few days ago. The CofE is deeply and institutionally racist, at least in the lower tiers of management. Viewers were given example after example of racial abuse and discrimination and of managerial indifference to it. For example, as Dr Elizabeth Henry, the CofE's former race relations adviser related:

A really shocking incident was a young black man who received a picture of a banana [with] his head superimposed on it and underneath is said 'Bananaman'. That is a deeply offensive and a deeply racist image.

He took it to HR and did file a grievance [but] the decision was that it was not racist.

[He] left and was given a very small compensation, however he was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Right Wing Christian Racism News - "It's The Jews, I Tell You!"

Right-wing Christian pastor Rick Wiles,
Conspiracy theorist and anti-Semite.

Rick Wiles Says the US Is Under the Control of ‘Satanic Zionists’ | Right Wing Watch

The undercurrent of antisemitism in extreme right-wing Christian fundamentalism was given another noxious airing recently when radical right-wing Christian, conspiracy theorist and End Times broadcaster, Pastor Rick Wiles, declared that the United States is under the control of “Satanic Zionists.”.

Wiles, a non-denominational senior pastor at Flowing Streams Church in Vero Beach, Florida, with a long history of antisemitism, homophobia and support for Putin's Russia, delivered the following hate-filled rant to the audience of his TruNews [sic] broadcast:

The reason the ruling deep state of America hates the Russian people and wants to destroy them? It is the satanic Zionist power that overthrew the Russian government in 1917, did a human blood sacrifice of the Romanov family — a satanic ritual where they slaughtered the Romanovs, it was a satanic blood sacrifice — that same group of Satanists that overthrew the Russian people in 1917, that’s what controls America today.

That spirit right there is what is destroying the United States of America, destroying our freedom, destroying our culture, that spirit right there. That’s what’s making war against Russia. They overthrew it, they got free, they got out from under its bondage. And so who is under its bondage now? The American people. We’re under the bondage of that same satanic spirit.

Trumpanzee Talibangelical News - Just Another Nut-Job For Trump

Tod Coconato, President of Religious Liberty Coalition

Todd Coconato Says Christians Don’t Believe Biden Is President Because God’s ‘Mantle of Anointing’ Remains on Trump | Right Wing Watch

Leading Trumpanzee cultist, preacher and extreme right-wing fundamentalist Christian 'prophet', Tod Coconato, is living in one of Trump's alternate realities so he can reconcile his false prophesy of a Trump landslide victory in 2020 with the fact that Biden won with the largest popular vote ever in American electoral history, and is now firmly installed as 46^th President of the United States of America.

Coconato, self-appointed President of Religious Liberty Coalition, has now announced to his credulous followers that Biden is not really POTUS because God anointed Trump! Coconutjob announced this while live-streaming from his car last Wednesday.

Claiming, in best psychotic style, that he heard God speaking to him, and miraculously telling him exactly what he wanted to hear, almost like God was reading from a script that Coconato had handed him, he informed his dupes:

When I prayed about if we’d ever see President Trump as our president again, God just reminded me that he’s the one that chooses the leadership, not us. He allows certain things to happen, but he also responds to the prayers of the righteous. And what he was telling me is that just like David—and I think I said this in a past livestream—but just like David, President Trump has the mantle of leadership, has the anointing of leadership. That’s why it’s kind of confusing to saints that are looking, and they’re wondering what’s going on. Because they see Joe Biden and they’re like, ‘This guy doesn’t seem like he’s authentic, like he’s real; is he really the president?’ And I said, ‘God, why are so many people questioning if Joe Biden is the president? I mean, clearly this guy is the president of the United States. Are we to doubt that? Are we not to believe that?’ And God said, ‘It’s about the mantle, the mantle of anointing, which is on President Trump, not Biden.'

The 'Mantle of anointing', eh? That's the way, Todd! Talk gibberish so your dupes will think it holy wisdom!

It would be comical if only there wasn't a more sinister side to this lunacy.
There is a clear warning in that, and not only of the insanity that fundamentalist zealotry can cause (or does the insanity precede the zealotry?). Note Coconato's cavalier regard for the supremacy of the people in their choice of elected leaders. It's not they who choose the president but Coconato's compliant God (as announced by Coconato and other self-appointed 'saints' who claim to hear voices).

If these frauds ever achieve their goal of a Fundamentalist Taliban-style Christian Theocracy in America, these are the self-appointed people who will be deciding who forms the executive, the legislature and, indirectly, the judiciary!

Another examples of how:

Religion provides excuses for people who need excuses

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Malevolent Designer News - Using Mink to Make a More Lethal SARS-C0V-2 Virus

Introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into farmed mink leads to the emergence of viral variants that partially evade antibody-mediated neutralization.

A) SARS-CoV-2-infected workers introduced the virus into farmed mink populations, causing an epidemic spread of the virus in the animals. As a result, the virus mutated in mink and gave rise to a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant. This novel variant was subsequently transmitted back to workers, sparking transmission chains in the local community.

B) SARS-CoV-2 from mink harbor one or more mutations in the viral spike protein, which is used by the virus to enter cells and constitutes the main target for neutralizing antibodies. These mutations enable the virus to partially evade from neutralization by antibodies from convalescent individuals and synthetic antibodies used for COVID-9 therapy.

Figure: Markus Hoffmann

Deutsches Primatenzentrum: SARS-CoV-2 variants from mink evade inhibition by antibodies

Creationist mode:

News today of the lengths Creationism's putative intelligent [sic] designer is going in its plan to make as many of us die from its new plague virus, SARS-CoV-2, which is currently ravaging the world in the worst pandemic for a century.

It has recruited the help of mink!

According to an open access paper in Cell Reports a few days ago, the variety of the virus that went from humans into mink has now produced a variant that evades the antibodies we have been building in the population to prevent us suffering from the virus, or being made seriously ill by it if we do catch it.

The research was carried out by scientists working for the Infection Biology Unit, German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany and the Division of Molecular Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine 3, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany. The news release from the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, gives details:

Look What Evangelical Christianity Causes! Penis Insecurity!

Penis Insecurity
Correlation between number of Google searches for key phrased and the number of Evangelical Christians in a US state

New study links evangelical Christianity to phallic insecurity in the United States

A paper published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion last March, offers an explanation for the sometimes bizarre behaviour and aggressive attitudes of male American Bible-belt Evangelical Christians, including their frequent fascination with guns and propensity to follow the male leaders of weird cults - behaviour that seems so at odds with what most of the rest of the developed world sees, rightly or wrongly as a peace-loving, pacifist religion.

The paper reveals an almost obsessive evangelical preoccupation with the size of their penis and suggests that this is due to:

...the largely patriarchal―and increasingly embattled and radicalized―evangelical subculture [which] explicitly or implicitly promotes equating masculinity with physical strength and size, leaving men influenced by that subculture (whether evangelical or not) to seek solutions for their privately felt failure to measure up.

Covidiot News - When a Pastor Believes He's Above the Law

Rev. James Coates

GraceLife Church, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Rev. James Coates
GraceLife Church, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Protesters rally to cause of 'jailed' Canadian church as pastor awaits trial

Rev. James Coates is a former student of Rev. John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California and, like him, believes churches and their pastors are especially priviledged and above the law of the land. To MacArthur's cheers, Coates continued to hold church services at his nondenominational church near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in contravention of the anti-coronavirus measures which limit congregations to 15% of the church's capacity and with suitable social distancing measures in place.

After months of his reckless endangerment of the health and welfare of his church members, their families and the public at large, the authorities were forced to act and jailed Coates for 35 days. Undeterred, other pastors at the church continued to hold illegal gatherings until the authorities in Edmonton closed the church, fenced it off and posted guards.

Evolution News - Rapid Evolution of Salamander Colouration

Two opposing evolutionary forces help explain why we see two different colors of spotted salamander egg masses in ponds in central Pennsylvania, according to a new study. Egg masses are either completely clear or opaque white.

Credit: Mark Urban, University of Connecticut

Dueling evolutionary forces drive rapid evolution of salamander coloration | Eberly College of Science

A neat little illustration of how evolution can be the result of competing forces, such as natural selection and genetic drift, was published a few days ago in the journal, Biology Letters. It concerned the rapid evolution of colouration in the eggs of the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) and involved re-surveying a network of 31 ponds in central Pennsylvania to repeat work done in 1990 and 1991 to see what changes had occurred.

Sadly, the published paper is behind a pay wall, but the news item by Gail McCormick from PennState Eberly College of Science has the details:

Christian Hypocrisy News - Liberty University Sues the Falwells.

Jerry Jnr and Becki Falwell
"Sexual behaviour 'damaging' to Liberty University"

Liberty University sues former President Jerry Falwell Jr. for $10 million, citing conspiracy, breach of contract

Good ol' Christian hypocrisy is alive and well and living in Liberty University.

The fallout from Jerry Falwell Jnr and his wife Becki's 'arrangement' with the Miami pool boy, Giancarlo Granda, in which Becki had sex with Granda while Jerry watched, is continuing unabated.

Jerry Falwell Jnr inherited his position as Liberty University's president from his father, Jerry Snr, who founded the Christian fundamentalist 'University', but was forced to resign when news of his and Becki's sexual adventures leaked out. The 'University' is now suing him for $10 million claiming breach of contract and alleging that he conspired to mislead the board of directors by concealing details of the affair from them. The University is also alleging that Falwell “fashioned a deceitful scheme to manipulate the Executive Committee of Liberty” while negotiating his last contract.

The couple also bought a Miami beach youth hostel in 2013 and installed Granda as manager. While Becki admits her affair with Granda, who has the photographs to prove it, she denies the specific allegations and Jerry Jnr, again, despite the photographic evidence showing otherwise, continues to deny his part in the arrangement.

Faith News - Going Down in Black America

Trends in the Black Church: More Faithful, But Not Immune to Decline - Barna Group

Despite the traditional attachment to the Church, especially the fundamentalist, evangelical, historically black churches, the decline in religious affiliation seen in all Americans is no less so in African-Americans, according to a running survey conducted by the Barna Group.

The proportion of Black Americans who think church involvement is "very" or "somewhat desirable" has fallen significantly in the last 23 years from 90% in 1996 (71% "very", 19% "somewhat") to 74% in 2019 (44% "very", 30% "somewhat"). The interesting thing here is the relative change in perceived importance. Only 44% now think church involvement is "very desirable" against 71% in 1996; a 27-percentage point fall! Meanwhile the proportion who think it is "somewhat desirable" has risen from 19% to 30%; a 21-percentage point increase. Clearly, the perceived importance of church invlvement is weakening but not being lost entirely, or maybe peer-pressure to declare unequivocal support for the church has lessened.



Despite this relatively high level of perceived desirability of involvement with the church, the decline in overall affiliation to the churches has continued to follow a similar trend in Black Americans to the general population. Although still higher than average for Americans, there has been a rapid decline from 2011 (89%) to 74% in 2020 in affiliation to any particular church. From the peak of 93% in 2007, this fall represents a loss of one in five affiliates to 'Nones'. 15% of Black Americans now self-identify as 'Nones'; more than double its 2007 level.



Maybe it's me, but the self-identification of religious/spiritual chart seems to reflect muddled thinking. For example, I can't imagine how someone could describe themselves as religious but not spiritual, yet 11% of Black Americans do so. The rest of this chart shows the trend common to all American demographic groups of the younger generations being increasingly neither religious nor spiritual. From a low of 7% for the Baby Boomers, through 13% for Generation X, to 16% and 17% respectively for Millennials and Generation Z. This augers well for the future since people tend to retain their affiliation once established, and affiliation is largely inherited from the parent generation, so the tendency will be for affliliation to decline and 'Nones' to increase as time goes on.

Church attendance remains relatively high amongst Black Americans at 40% attending within the last week. However, in line with other demographics, this has been falling steadily from a peak in 2009, falling 16-percentage points and more than reversing the 11-percentage point gain in the years 2001 to 2009. The average for all American demographics is just 31%, an 18-percentage point fall since 2009.

This figure would probably be significantly lower had it not been for the small rally staged by Hispanic Americans (mostly Catholic) which had declined more sharply than the average (22-percentage points) over the years 2009 - 2020 during the years of scandal in the Catholic Church.

Overall, while the grip of the church remains stronger amongst Black Americans than amongst other American demographics, they are showing very much the same trend of declining religiosity as all Americans and the same generational differences that should ensure this promising trend continues.

However it remains an enduring mystery in American religion, why the religion that was used to enslave Africans and destroy their culture to make them easier to control by the Christian slavers, quoting the Bible as justification for their racism, should be followed so fervently by the descendants of those whom it enslaved and who still endure the racism inherent in evangelical Christian white supremacism.

Talibangelical Trumpanzee News - The Loon Contest Just Got Loopier

Talibangelist Trumpanzee, Mario Murillo, of Mano Murillo Ministries

Mario Murillo Says God Will Destroy America to Save It From Democrats | Right Wing Watch

The competition between Trumpanzee Talibangeslists to see who can make the most ludicrously exaggerated prediction is hotting up. They even held a convention, or "Global Summit" of American fundamentalists at Harvest International Ministry, a church in Pasadena, California, last week end, in which they could out-loon one another. It's hard to tell which fruitloop came out a clear winner but amongst the front-runners was loopy right-wing evangelist, Mario Murillo, of Mano Murillo Ministries, another self-appointed 'prophet' who claims to see and hear God. At the 'Global Summit' he told the credulous audience just what they wanted to hear. He informed them that God is about to destroy the Democratic Party to save America, with:

Evolution News - The Origin of the Amazonian River Stingrays Explained

A selection of Amazonian freshwater sting rays (Potamotrygoninae)

Stingrays in the Amazon were stranded there by the Caribbean Sea | New Scientist

An article in New Scientist, based on research by a team led by João Pedro Fontenelle of the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, explains the evolution of the 38 different species of freshwater stingray found in the Amazon river system.

The news poses serious problems for Creationists who believe Evolution by natural selection is impossible and special creation by magic is a better explanation for this sort of biodiversity.

These stingrays are unique in that they inhabit fresh water and are only found in South America. Theya re clearly related to the saltwater stingrays which are themselves related to the rays and sharks. They range in size from 25 centimetres to a metre across.

By analysing the genomes of 350 individuals across 35 of the 38 species to compare genetic differences between the different species, the team showed that they diverged from their saltwater relatives some 26 million years ago between the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. This coincides with a period during which the sea level was higher and this area of South America was a coastal swamp, with the Caribbean Sea intruding far inland. The Andese mountain range was slso lower, creating a wide lowland area west of the Amazon into which the sea could intrude, known to science as the Pabas Wetlands. The result was a mixture of freshwater, saltwater and brakish lagoons with a series of salt gradients, making it easy for marine species washed into these lagoons to adapt to fresh water.

Later, as see levels fell as water became locked up in the polar icecaps, and the Pabas receded, populations of stingrays would have become isolated, making it possible for these populations to diversify due to natural selection by local environments, and genetic drift.

The result is the 38 different species we see today, the inevitable result of these natural processes.

The problem for Creationists is that this is all very understandable in terms of evolutionary theory, and meshes neatly into what is known from other strands of science about sea level change and the environment in that place at that time, giving a perfectly rational, coherent explanation of what we see today. By contrast, there appears to be no reason why a magic creator, even if the existence of such an entity had a rational explanation, would create these species with genomes that just happened to look like they had diversified from a common marine ancestor some 26 million years ago and arranged the geology so it just happened to look like the conditions for this diversity had a consistent, scientific explanation which does not require magic or the existence of a magic creative entity.

The team's findings were published last March in the Journal of Biogeography, sadly behind a paywall.

Reference:

Fontenelle, JP, Marques, FPL, Kolmann, MA, Lovejoy, NR.
Biogeography of the neotropical freshwater stingrays (Myliobatiformes: Potamotrygoninae) reveals effects of continent-scale paleogeographic change and drainage evolution.
J Biogeogr. 2021; 00: 1– 14. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14086

If you're a Creationists and are beginning to have some doubts because of this tsunami of scientific evidence for evolution and none at all for Creationism, then you might benefit from reading these two books, that should help you understand the realities of nature and dispense with the fantasies and disinformation you've been fooled with by frauds with a political and financial agenda.

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Thank you for sharing!

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Malevolent Designer News - The Evil Genius Behind the Coronavirus Revealed

A multidimensional view of the coronavirus - TUM

Creationist mode:

As well as the paper cataloguing the multitude of mutations and varieties of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that creationism's intelligent [sic] designer has had to come up with to try to keep ahead of human medical science, we have here another paper detailing the amazing complexity of the interaction between the virus and human cells as it destroys them and kills its victims. It is by a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany

Creationists can access the database the team behind this paper have constructed and made available, to marvel at the sheer complexity of the 1484 interactions between the viral proteins and the cell proteins. As described in the TUM news release:

Malevolent Designer News - Sponges Don't Get Cancer...

Tethya wilhelma

Can withstand 100 times the dose of X-rays that would be fatal for humans

Sponges can survive massive doses of radiation without getting cancer | New Scientist

According to a paper published in biorXiv ahead of peer-reviewed publication, a research team led by Angelo Forunato of Arizon State University's Arizona Cancer Evolution Center have found that sponges don't get cancer.

Sponges, which belong to the Porifera phylum, live for thousands of years, grow continually and lack an immune system. They are also exposed to solar radiation, so, since cancers normally arise due to mistakes in cell mitosis when the DNA is replicated, or to radiation damage to the DNA, they should accumulate numerous cancers over time.

Yet cancers have never been found in sponges. Clearly, there is something preventing this and, unlike with elephants which rarely get cancer, it can't be due to a highly efficient immune system.

In fact, sponges can survive the highest doses of ionizing radiation ever recorded for a living species. In their experiments, the Arizona team exposed the sponge species Tethya wilhelma to a dose of 600 Gy of X-ray radiation without harm. This is about 100 time the lethal dose for humans.

Malevolent Designer News - One Year of Trying to Keep Ahead of Science

One year of SARS-CoV-2 evolution | Microbiology Society

Creationist mode:

A review paper published just a few days ago should thrill intelligent [sic] design Creationists. It catalogues the measures their intelligent [sic] designer has gone to to try to keep ahead of human medical science so it can carry on killing and making sick as many people as possible with its SARS-CoV-2 virus. The paper is published, open access, in a Microbiology Society's journal, the Journal of General Virology.

Of course, the scientists talk about mutations, evolution, etc, but, as any devoted intelligent [sic] design advocate knows, this is the deliberate design of a magic deity, who is one and the same as the god of the Christian Bible and the Qur'an.

The Microbiology Society new release says:

The review discusses the findings of over 180 research articles and follows the changes that have taken place in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, and the variants that have occurred as a result.

As more and more variants appear, we are getting a better picture of their shared similarities and differences and can better predict what other new variants will look like. Putting all this information together will also help us design booster vaccines that protect against as many variants as possible or design targeted diagnostics.

Although the genomic surveillance in Europe and the USA is fairly strong it is becoming clear there are large areas of the world that we simply have no idea what variants are circulating. These are starting to appear in Europe as imports or community outbreaks. Better surveillance across a broader range of countries would allow us to better risk assess what the next stage of the pandemic might look like. If we want to monitor the ongoing emergence, spread, and import of potential vaccine escape mutants we have to continue this effort or risk further pandemic waves and vaccine failure. Furthermore, understanding the genomic epidemiology of the virus as early as possible will allow us to rapidly develop updated vaccine boosters.

The authors

A number of SARS-CoV-2 variants have emerged from immunocompromised hosts, research has identified. It is thought that variants of concern – including B.1.1.7, a variant first identified in Kent – were a result of long-term infection in people with a weakened immune system.

Persistent infections in immunocompromised people could cause the virus to mutate more frequently because the person’s immune system cannot clear the virus as quickly as the immune system of a healthy person.

Authors Professor Wendy Barclay, Dr Thomas Peacock, Professor Julian Hiscox and Rebekah Penrice-Randal explain the importance of monitoring genetic changes in SARS-CoV-2 for future control of the virus: “As more and more variants appear, we are getting a better picture of their shared similarities and differences and can better predict what other new variants will look like. Putting all this information together will also help us design booster vaccines that protect against as many variants as possible or design targeted diagnostics” they said.

Their review discusses where mutations have occurred, what part of the virus they affect and how the resulting variants could impact vaccination efforts. According to the authors, mutations in SARS-CoV-2 are expected, as the virus is adapting to humans. “Sequencing of human seasonal coronaviruses has not been done on a scale like SARS-CoV-2, particularly when they would have initially spread into humans. SARS-CoV-2 is at the start of its journey in humans whereas other human coronaviruses have been around, in some cases, for many decades” they said.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants is one of the great challenges in the ongoing pandemic. This review article summarises our current knowledge and understanding of the evolution of the virus, as well as the consequences – for example in terms of vaccination. It is of great interest to anyone wishing to learn more about the history of this virus and what the future may hold.

Professor Alain Kohl
Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of General Virology

Variants with the same or similar mutations have emerged independently in different countries: “SARS-CoV-2 is probably still finding its way in humans in terms of optimal infection and transmission. The scale of the outbreak and the massive sequencing efforts will identify concurrent mutations; basically, the virus is undergoing the same types of selection pressures wherever you are in the world, and the outbreak was all seeded by the same original virus,” explained the authors.

Mutations of particular interest include those in the spike protein. This protein allows the virus to enter host cells and is the main target of the immune system, including immunity generated by all current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Mutations in the gene that codes for spike could change the shape of the protein, allowing it to no longer be recognised by the immune system. Because this protein is so important for SARS-CoV-2 entry, favourable mutations are more likely to succeed and create new, dominant variants of the virus.

Changes that give the virus an advantage can quickly become dominant. For example, one mutation, named D614G, was found in 80% of SARS-CoV-2 viruses sequenced just four months after it was first detected. Now, viruses without the D614G mutation are only commonly seen in parts of Africa.

Another mutation, N501Y, is found in the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7. This mutation is believed to be the result of infection of an immunocompromised individual and may contribute to the virus being more contagious. Infections with this variant have a higher fatality rate. In the UK, B.1.1.7 became the dominant variant within three months and is now responsible for over 90% of infections there.

Significant spike protein mutations discussed in the review include:

D614G: In February 2020, a mutation was detected in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and named D614G. This mutation was found to makes SARS-CoV-2 more infectious, however does not make the virus more harmful. This increase in infectivity led to a significant fitness advantage and within four months, 80% of SARS-CoV-2 viruses sequenced around the world were found to have the mutation. Now, only parts of Africa have circulating viruses without the D614G mutation.

Despite initial concerns, D614G does not have an effect on vaccine efficiency and in some cases, viruses with the D614G mutation are more readily cleared by antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Y435F: In mid-2020, reports of mink becoming infected by humans became frequent. In mink, the spike protein of the virus commonly developed two mutations called Y435F and N501T. These mutations allow for stronger binding of the virus to human receptor cells. Viruses with these mutations were found in a cluster of human infections in Denmark, believed to have originated from mink. Concerningly, this variant was able to infect people who had previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and were thought to have some immunity to the virus. As a result, 17 million mink were culled.

The mutation Y435F has also been reported to have developed in an immunocompromised person, possibly as a result of chronic infection with the virus allowing it to adapt.

N501Y: In December 2020, a highly transmissible variant of the virus was isolated in Kent, UK. This variant, named B.1.1.7, contained a mutation in the spike protein called N501Y. Not only does this mutation make the virus more contagious, but it was also found to have a higher fatality rate. In the UK, B.1.1.7 is now the dominant variant, and is responsible for over 90% of infections.

The mutation N501Y has been found to have little effect on immunity from both vaccines and previous infections.

E484K: The spike protein mutation E484K has emerged in recent months, once in South Africa and at least twice in Brazil. Variants with the mutation of E484K are able to evade the immune system of both vaccinated and previously infected individuals.

It is thought that this mutation was driven by high levels of population immunity, which drove mutations in the spike protein to evade the immune system. In Brazil, there have been several reports of healthcare workers and other people with antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 being reinfected with variants with the E484K mutant, raising concerns about vaccine protection against this variant.

The authors also provide a handy table of all these mutations so devotees of the putative intelligent [sic] designer can marvel at the amount of work this obsessive malevolence has put into ensuring as many of us get as sick as possible.

Creationist mode:

Okay, back to the real world now - the world where people who understand biology are working to protect us from the results of evolution by natural selection - the world where muttering magic spells to an imaginary magic designer do absolutely nothing to mitigate the harm from parasites like this pernicious little virus.

Spike mutations of interest mapped to the spike trimer. Mutations shown in red, ACE2 shown in yellow, spike monomer in RBD ‘up’ conformation shown in green, spike monomers in RBD ‘down’ conformation shown in pink and blue. Structure made using PyMOL using PDBID 7A94 [24].

ABSTRACT

SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have originated in the human population from a zoonotic spillover event. Infection in humans results in a variety of outcomes ranging from asymptomatic cases to the disease COVID-19, which can have significant morbidity and mortality, with over two million confirmed deaths worldwide as of January 2021. Over a year into the pandemic, sequencing analysis has shown that variants of SARS-CoV-2 are being selected as the virus continues to circulate widely within the human population. The predominant drivers of genetic variation within SARS-CoV-2 are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) caused by polymerase error, potential host factor driven RNA modification, and insertion/deletions (indels) resulting from the discontinuous nature of viral RNA synthesis. While many mutations represent neutral ‘genetic drift’ or have quickly died out, a subset may be affecting viral traits such as transmissibility, pathogenicity, host range, and antigenicity of the virus. In this review, we summarise the current extent of genetic change in SARS-CoV-2, particularly recently emerging variants of concern, and consider the phenotypic consequences of this viral evolution that may impact the future trajectory of the pandemic.

Peacock, Thomas P.; Penrice-Randal, Rebekah; Hiscox, Julian A.; Barclay, Wendy S.
SARS-CoV-2 one year on: evidence for ongoing viral adaptation
Journal of General Virology 2021; 102(4), DOI: 10.1099/jgv.0.001584

Copyright: © 2021 The authors. Published by the Microbiology Society.
Open Access
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

This tongue-in-cheek twist on the science is, of course, the logical conclusion of the curious Creationist dogma that nothing happens unless their putative designer deity so wills it and, being omniscient, it knows perfectly in advance what the consequences of its designs will be. If any Creationist disagrees with this, feel free to explain the flaw in that logic. Is your designer deity not omniscient and blunders with its designs, being forever surprised by what they do? Or is it just incompetent and now lacks the power to stop SARS-CoV-2 doing what it does and evolving away randomly until it comes up with new, more successful designs all by natural processes that your deity is powerless to prevent?

Or would you rather people thought of your god as a malevolent deity who deliberately creates pain and suffering because it so hates its creation?

Your god; your choice.

Meanwhile, if you have the slightest doubt, here are a couple of books that expose the Intelligent Design hoax for what it is - a badly thought-out attempt to foist fundamentalist religious dogma on scientifically-illiterate people disguised as science by dressing it up in a grubby labcoat.

Evolution News - Evolution of Sex Determination Chromosomes

Odorrana swinhoana

Credit: Ianbu (Own work)
CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Discovery of 6 sex chromosomes in a frog species offer clues on evolution of complex XY systems | Hiroshima University

Mammals and birds, with a few exceptions such as the platypus, use just two sex chromosomes for sex determination. Humans, like other mammals use X and Y chromosomes, for example. Two X-chromosomes determine the female gender and one of each determine the male gender. Birds do things slightly differently with W and Z chromosomes where two Z-chromosomes determine the male gender and one of each determine the female.

But a team of Japanese scientists based at Hiroshima University have discovered that the frog, Odorrana swinhoana (syn Raina narina), endemic to Taiwan, uses a much more complex system involving six chromosomes, retaining some of the archaic sex-determinism from a common vertebrate ancestor of fish, amphibians and reptiles!

The Hiroshima University news release explains:

The discovery was a surprise to the international research team led by Associate Professor Ikuo Miura of Hiroshima University’s Amphibian Research Center. In 1980, the first reported instance of multiple sex chromosome systems in amphibians was found in the Taiwanese brown frog Raina narina — a synonym for O. swinhoana — which had a male-specific translocation between two chromosomes. Its sex chromosomes could be described as ♂ X1Y1X2Y2 - ♀ X1X1X2X2.

The finding suggested that translocation — a chromosomal abnormality that happens when a chromosome breaks and its fragment fuses to another — occurred between two potential sex-determining chromosomes. At that time, however, the identification of the chromosomes involved in the translocation was uncertain.

So when the researchers set out to precisely identify the chromosomes involved, they were expecting only one translocation and not three. The three male-specific translocations created a system of six sex chromosomes, ♂ X1Y1X2Y2X3Y3 - ♀ X1X1X2X2X3X3. Their findings were published in the journal Cells last March 16, 2021.

A first among vertebrates

Cases of multiple chromosomes in amphibians are rare and their karyotypes, or collection of chromosomes, are generally highly conserved with little rearrangement among species. A majority are also homomorphic with undifferentiated sex chromosomes, unlike mammals and birds which have heteromorphic XY and ZW sex-determination systems. So far, there are only 10 known cases of multiple sex chromosome systems in amphibians.

What’s more, the research team uncovered that the potential sex-chromosomes involved in the translocations contained orthologs of the sex-determining genes in mammals, birds, and fishes. Orthologs are genes that evolved from an ancestral gene found in the shared ancestor of those species.

The researchers found the Dmrt1, the male determining gene in birds, and Amh, the male determining gene in fish and platypus, on the Y1 chromosome; the Sox3, the ancestral gene of SRY in therian mammals and the male determining gene in medaka fish, on the Y3 chromosome; and an unidentified sex-determining gene on the Y2 chromosome.

This is the first time that sex chromosomes containing orthologs of the sex-determining genes in mammals, birds, and fishes are found together in a vertebrate species.

>Chance vs choice

Sex chromosomes evolve from an ordinary autosomal pair after acquiring a sex-determining gene. But the team has yet to figure out which of the three pairs is the original sex chromosome and which is the major sex-determining gene of the three candidates: Dmrt1, Amh, and Sox3.

Miura explained that up to now, sex chromosome-autosome fusion has been documented as a chance occurrence.

“In fact, it was like that in this frog, too. The break and fusion of the chromosomes may have occurred by chance,” he said.

But the researchers believe that the chromosome members involved in the fusions were selected non-randomly or inevitably chosen as they probably share a common genomic region.

“To be so, the three may share a common DNA sequence on each of them, which makes them closely localized to each other, and this makes it possible to join the simultaneously occurring breakages and translocations.”

“This rare case suggests sex-specific, nonrandom translocations and thus provides a new viewpoint for the evolutionary meaning of the multiple sex chromosome system.”

The group's findings are published, open access in Cells:

Graphical abstract

The six sex chromosomes found in the Taiwanese frog species Odorrana swinhoana. Mammal, bird, and fish sex-determining gene orthologs and another unidentified sex-determining gene were found in the frog’s three Y chromosomes.

Abstract

Translocation between sex-chromosomes and autosomes generates multiple sex-chromosome systems. It happens unexpectedly, and therefore, the evolutionary meaning is not clear. The current study shows a multiple sex chromosome system comprising three different chromosome pairs in a Taiwanese brown frog (Odorrana swinhoana). The male-specific three translocations created a system of six sex-chromosomes, ♂ X1Y1X2Y2X3Y3-♀ X1X1X2X2X3X3. It is unique in that the translocations occurred among three out of the six members of potential sex-determining chromosomes, which are known to be involved in sex-chromosome turnover in frogs, and the two out of three include orthologs of the sex-determining genes in mammals, birds and fishes. This rare case suggests sex-specific, nonrandom translocations and thus provides a new viewpoint for the evolutionary meaning of the multiple sex chromosome system.

1. Introduction

Sex chromosomes generally evolve from an ordinary autosomal pair after acquiring a sex-determining gene and thus are composed of a pair of X and Y chromosomes in an XX-XY system or of Z and W chromosomes in a ZZ-ZW system. Rarely, the sex-chromosome is fused with an autosome and generates multiple sex-chromosome systems. If either a homolog of a sex-chromosome pair is fused with an autosome, the number of sex-chromosomes increases, while if they are both homologs, the pair of sex-chromosomes remains the same but gets larger in size. The latter is the case in placental mammals, including humans, in which an autosome corresponding to kangaroo (marsupial) chromosome 5 was fused with both the X and Y chromosomes ^[1,2]. To date, the evolutionary meaning of the translocation between sex chromosomes and autosomes has been documented in relation to speciation ^[3,4], sexual benefit ^[5], and life elongation of decaying Y chromosomes ^[6,7]. However, such evolutionary advantages of multiple sex-chromosomes were acquired after the unexpected translocation and thus mean no evolutionary inevitability; that is, evolution has no foresight but always hindsight ^[8].

[...]

5. Conclusions

The translocations among the three potential sex-determining chromosomes, two of which include orthologs of the sex-determining genes in mammals, birds and fishes, found in this study suggest the nonrandom evolution of multiple sex chromosomes and the existence of a common genomic sequence shared by the potential sex-chromosomes. Identification of the common sequence would provide a hint for understanding the mechanisms of sex-chromosome evolution and turnover among the regular members of homomorphic sex chromosomes.

Miura, Ikuo; Shams, Foyez; Lin, Si-Min; de Bello Cioffi, Marcelo; Liehr, Thomas; Al-Rikabi, Ahmed; Kuwana, Chiao; Srikulnath, Kornsorn; Higaki, Yuya; Ezaz, Tariq
Evolution of a Multiple Sex-Chromosome System by Three-Sequential Translocations among Potential Sex-Chromosomes in the Taiwanese Frog Odorrana swinhoana
Cells 2021, 10(3), 661; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10030661

Copyright: © 2021 The authors. Published by MDPI
Open access
Excerpts reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

And now the inevitable question for Creationists:

What are these ancestral genes doing in this frog if they are not from a shared common vertebrate ancestor and why would an intelligent designer design such an unnecessarily complex system for determining gender in this frog when a much more simple system exists and is used in other vertebrates, including other frog species?

As we have seen, the undirected, unintelligent, mindless process of evolution by natural selection is perfectly capable of providing answers to these questions. If all you can come up with is an unknowable mystery, then what use is the notion of ID Creationism?

Evolution News - If This Is Not A Transitional Hominin, What Would Be?

KNM-ER 2598 partial occipital

a Inset image indicates the approximate anatomical location of the KNM-ER 2598 occipital.
b Posterior view and right lateral view are shown.

Revisiting a Renowned Skull From Early Human Homo Erectus | AMNH

When it was discovered about 50 years ago at East Turkana in northern Kenya, the skull fragment of what came to be known as Homo erectus, was believed to be the oldest specimen of a truly human species known, at 1.9 million years old.

However, some people doubted the age of this specimen, suggesting the remains could have been moved there from later strata by wind or water. Now a study led by American Museum of Natural History Assistant Curator Ashley Hammond has revisited the site and found more fragments of what are believed to be H. erectus associated with strata that confirm the original dating of the earlier skull fragment.

Talibangelist News - And Right Round The Twist Goes Another Trumpanzee Loon

Ricky Skaggs, Talibangelical Trumpanzee

Famous Musician Ricky Skaggs Says the Election Was 'A Crime' and God Will Return Trump to Office | Right Wing Watch

The country singer, Ricky Skaggs appears to be the latest Talibangelical Trumpanzee to follow fruitloops like Robin Bullock, Steve Quayle, Rick Joyner, Jonny Enlow, Hank Kunneman, and Kat Kerr, round the twist into psychotic delusion. He is now claiming God talks to him and gives him important messages for the rest of us. This is a common phenomenon in the excessively religious and shows how the line between excessive religiosity and psychosis is so fine as to be invisible on occasion.

So, when Skaggs appeared on the "Elijah Streams" Talibangelical YouTube program last Tuesday, his audience heard him say:

Religious Abuse News - The Mexican Cult With a Paedophile Leader - Allegedly

Naasón Joaquín García
Alondra Ocampo	Susanna Medina Oaxaca

Trial date set in sexual abuse case against La Luz del Mundo leader Naasón Joaquín García

On Monday, a Superior Court Judge reversed the April 8th decision of an Appeal Court that the case against alleged Paedophile, Garcia, be dropped because of procedural delays in bringing the case to court. The trial will now be held on September 27 and Garcia remains in detention in lieu of a $90 million bail.

Also to appear in court on the same day, is Susana Medina Oaxaca. The third defendant in the case, Alondra Ocampo, has pleaded guilty to four counts, include three counts of contact with a minor for a sexual offense, involving three Jane Does, and one count of forcible sexual penetration, involving a fourth Jane Doe. She is believed to have struck a deal with the prosecution, the details of which are not disclosed.

Garcia is leader of the Mexican fundamentalist Christian La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World) church and is known to the sect as "The Apostle". He faces counts of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation of a minor, human trafficking and possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, Ocampo took photos of minor girls “touching each other sexually at her direction” to send the photographs to García. Ocampo directed one of the victims, along with other minors, to perform “flirty” dances for García while wearing as little clothing as possible.

After the dance, García “gave them a speech about a king having mistresses and stated that an apostle of god can never be judged for his actions,” according to the court papers.

According to this report in the Los Angeles Times:

Catholic Abuse News - The Church Pays Up to Avoid a Court Case

Fr. Gerald Ridsdale.
Predatory paedophile who abused almost 70 schoolboys when chaplain to their Catholic boys school.

Gerald Ridsdale: Victorian man abused as schoolboy by paedophile priest given $1.5m settlement | Victoria | The Guardian

A man who cannot be named for legal reasons, a victim of the notorious, predatory paedophile Catholic priest, Gerald Ridsdale, has been given one of the largest amounts received to date, a A$1.5 million settlement on the eve of the court case in which he was claiming compensation for the abuses he received from Ridsdale and two Catholic teachers at his school in the Catholic dioceses of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

Ridsdale was sentence in 1994, initially to 12 months in prison for abusing 9 boys, but this was extended as more victims came forward. By 2006, he had pleaded guilty to 54 more child victims and his sentence was extended so he would not be eligible for parole until 2019.

Since then, a further batch of 23 additional charges have been brought against him, bringing his total number of victims to 65, and he will now not be eligible for parole untill 2022, Judge Irene Lawson deciding that even at the age of 83 he still posed a threat to the community.