I certainly don't know enough to understand all the science here, but when they say "deliberate natural selection," are they implying that the variants are the results of laboratory manipulation? If so, how is it that they appear in different parts of the world? If it's a conspiracy, it's a pretty big one.
This paper will need feedback and consideration from the community. To me there seem to be two major issues.<p>First, the paper starts with a detailed analysis of known information about SARS-CoV2 but then veers off into "unnaturalness" of genetic changes and "suboptimal" furin cleavage sites.<p>Second, there are already hypothetical explanation for these variations. Furin cleavage sites are common in viruses and exhibit quite a bit of variation. Specific to the observed "unnaturalness" this could be caused by someone being infected with a second strain after getting an advanced infection. While the long prelude following the appearance of different strains appears thorough what it actually demonstrates is that there were various strains appearing in different locations and then disappearing. Testing resources were not available to all especially during the critical time when variants were splitting off and spreading globally.<p>Finally, it is worth mentioning that coronavirus do not have a simple construction where genes code for proteins found in the completely reproduced virus, but rather a series of proteins and enzymes are produced that divide and reassemble. This process increases the variability of the result, for example in the structure of the furin cleavage site.<p>So all this is potentially interesting, but the idea that this proves labs were involved is a stretch. Known natural mechanisms could potentially account for what is seen, so more evidence will probably be needed.
Yes, Omicron cannot be explained evolutionary. It might be wither a lab leak (not very likely), or result of being inside of someone who takes mutagens.
> we concluded that the formations of a part of Omicron isolates BA.1, BA.1.1, and BA.2 were not the products of genome evolution as is commonly observed in nature, such as the accumulation of mutations and homologous recombinations. Furthermore, the study of 35 recombinant isolates of Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2, confirmed that Omicron variants were already present in 2020. The analysis we have shown here is that the Omicron variants are formed by an entirely new mechanism that cannot be explained by previous biology<p>> This paper aims to point out that SARS-CoV-2 has undergone unthinkable mutations under conventional coronavirus mutation mechanisms, and we hope that the possibility of artificial theory should be included in the discussion seriously as to the formation of SARS-CoV-2 variants.<p>Oh it's another lab leak theory. The Lancet (the most prestigious medical journal) already debunked these conspiracy theories [1].<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_letter_(COVID-19)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_letter_(COVID-19)</a>