# The coronavirus and some basic evolutionary genetics

**URL:** <https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169>\
**Category:** Conversation\
**Tags:** Science, Society\
**Created:** [February 8, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169 "2021-02-08T04:25:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Patrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b2d939/32.png) [@Patrick](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Patrick)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/1 "2021-02-08T04:25:36Z")

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> **[The coronavirus and some basic evolutionary genetics](https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/02/07/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/)**
>
> by Greg Mayer Jerry and I were both working independently on posts about the coronavirus. When we realized this, we conferred and decided to continue our efforts, but with some coordination and cro…

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**Author:** ![thoughtful](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/thoughtful/32/9230_2.png) [@thoughtful](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/thoughtful)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 6:19am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/2 "2021-02-08T06:19:41Z")

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Helpful summaries (I’m also including the earlier one linked) of what I’ve been reading in various articles.

From Jerry’s:

> I hope I haven’t confused people too much; the area is quite complex.

So do I get to pat myself on the back then if I understood everything he wrote? 😄 I wonder if he would be surprised about this creationist who is very interested in viral evolution.

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**Author:** ![davecarlson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/davecarlson/32/2139_2.png) [@davecarlson](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/davecarlson)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/3 "2021-02-08T15:39:56Z")

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With regard to this point:

> **By a _very_ crude analysis, the UK variant does not show evidence of selection on its protein sequences.** The ratio of Nonsynonymous (N) to Synonymous (S) mutations is 13/6 = 2.17, which is very close to the expected ratio of 2.66 for _neutral_ (i.e., unselected) mutation in a completely _random_ genome. The defect of this analysis is that the virus’s genome is of course not random. I would expect that someone with the genomic sequence and the right software is already carrying out a proper analysis using the actual nucleotide and codon distribution of the virus. (In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s already been done; not being a virologist, I don’t follow that literature.)

I’m sure there are a lot of people doing this sort of analysis. One of them is [Sergei Pond](http://lab.hyphy.org/), a molecular evolution software developer who has written several methods of detecting selection that are popular among virologists.

He’s got publicly available analysis notebooks showing some of the results for tests of selection. See [here](https://observablehq.com/@spond/revised-sars-cov-2-analytics-page) and [here](https://observablehq.com/@spond/combined-view-of-sites-which-may-be-experiencing-convergen), for example.

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**Author:** ![Michael\_Okoko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/michael_okoko/32/13148_2.png) [@Michael\_Okoko](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Michael_Okoko)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/4 "2021-02-08T16:14:20Z")

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My browser no longer open WordPress sites like this, any solutions?

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**Author:** ![Patrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b2d939/32.png) [@Patrick](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Patrick)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/5 "2021-02-08T16:14:28Z")

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Nothing surprises Jerry. 😉

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**Author:** ![AllenWitmerMiller](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/allenwitmermiller/32/2519_2.png) [@AllenWitmerMiller](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/AllenWitmerMiller)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 7:12pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/6 "2021-02-08T19:12:30Z")

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> [@Michael\_Okoko](#):
>
> My browser no longer open WordPress sites like this, any solutions?

I might be inclined to answer a technical support issue like this in a private message but the same problem may very well afflict others. So here are some things to try:

(1) Clear your browser’s cache. Then shut-down your browser entirely and restart it.

(2) If that doesn’t help, try deleting the WordPress cookies.

(3) Make sure Javascript is enabled.

(Are you using the Safari browser by any chance?)

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**Author:** ![Patrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b2d939/32.png) [@Patrick](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Patrick)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/7 "2021-02-09T00:39:22Z")

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I don’t know where you are located, but the Jerry Coyne site is subject to censorship in many countries around the world.

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**Author:** ![Michael\_Okoko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/michael_okoko/32/13148_2.png) [@Michael\_Okoko](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Michael_Okoko)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/8 "2021-02-09T04:25:28Z")

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> [@AllenWitmerMiller](#):
>
> (1) Clear your browser’s cache. Then shut-down your browser entirely and restart it.
> 
> (2) If that doesn’t help, try deleting the WordPress cookies.

I have tried both already to no avail.

> [@AllenWitmerMiller](#):
>
> (3) Make sure Javascript is enabled.

It is.

> [@AllenWitmerMiller](#):
>
> (Are you using the Safari browser by any chance?)

Chrome.

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**Author:** ![Michael\_Okoko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/michael_okoko/32/13148_2.png) [@Michael\_Okoko](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Michael_Okoko)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/9 "2021-02-09T04:25:31Z")

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> [@Patrick](#):
>
> I don’t know where you are located, but the Jerry Coyne site is subject to censorship in many countries around the world

I can’t access all WordPress sites including Jerry’s and Evograd’s. I am located in Nigeria.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/peacefulscience/original/2X/6/6b7bf72453a5c60b0919b6b89a27dc18bc52382c.png) [@system](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-coronavirus-and-some-basic-evolutionary-genetics/13169/10 "2021-02-16T04:25:36Z")

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