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       #Post#: 50--------------------------------------------------
       ‘Striking’ coronavirus mutations found within one family cluster
       , Chinese scientists 
       By: mixin Date: February 4, 2020, 12:38 pm
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       Stephen Chen in Beijing
       Published: 11:30pm, 3 Feb, 2020
       Researchers studying a cluster of infections within a family in
       the southern province of Guangdong said the genes of the virus
       went through some significant changes as it spread within the
       family.
       Two nonsynonymous changes took place in the viral strains
       isolated from the family, according to a new study by Professor
       Cui Jie and colleagues at the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai.
       Cui’s team also detected a total of 17 nonsynonymous mutations
       from cases around the country between December 30 and late
       January, they wrote.
       Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, mutated at the speed
       of 1 to 3 changes per thousand “sites” each year, according to
       previous studies.
       Shi said that scientists still did not know the mutation speed
       of the new coronavirus because “most of the available [viral
       gene] sequences are not complete. They come in fragments.”
       But on Saturday, the Zhejiang Provincial Centre for Disease
       Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC) said it was teaming up
       with tech giant Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning
       Post, to develop a new method of genome analysis using
       artificial intelligence to study the virus from patient samples.
       The Zhejiang CDC said the new technology was expected to cut the
       sequencing time from several hours to about 30 minutes, allowing
       scientists to track mutations quicker and more precisely.
       It is not clear yet what the mutations mean for patients. Qiu
       Haibo, a member of the national expert panel advising the
       government on the fight against the virus, said on Sunday that
       so far there was no evidence that mutations could cause
       “repeated infections”.
       More at the link
  HTML https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3048772/striking-coronavirus-mutations-found-within-one-family-cluster
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