• Interesting paper. Key takeaways from my layman’s perspective (if I’m wrong please correct me):

    1) New strain has changes to the proteins in its spikes, which make it more effective at binding with our cells.
    2) It’s uncertain now how/where the strain developed, but there is some evidence that the virus may have evolved in an asymptomatic, immunosuppressed person with cancer, and it did so more rapidly than would be expected. A possible cause is the lack of pressure against the virus by the body’s immune response, and additional pressures introduced by blood plasma treatments that the patient had for their preexisting condition.
    3) It’s becoming the dominant strain in London, etc.

  • 1) New strain has changes to the proteins in its spikes, which make it more effective at binding with our cells.

    And changes to the furin cleavage site which make it more effective at penetrating the cell membrane.

  • Thanks, I was trying to decipher what precisely the two changes in that paragraph meant.

  • And changes to the furin cleavage site which make it more effective at penetrating the cell membrane.

    I love it when you talk dirty.

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