Pinpointing the ‘silent’ mutations that gave the coronavirus an evolutionary edge – Medical Xpress

We know that the coronavirus behind the COVID-19 crisis lived harmlessly in bats and other wildlife before it jumped the species barrier and spilled over to humans.
Now, researchers at Duke University have identified a number of “silent” mutations in the roughly 30,000 letters of the virus’s genetic code that helped it thrive once it made the leapand possibly helped set the stage for the global pandemic. The subtle changes involved how the virus folded its RNA molecules within human cells.
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