Kelly Baclija
Mr. Ippolito
AP Bio
April 16, 2021
Bower, Bruce. “Hints of an Ancient Coronavirus Outbreak Appear in Modern East Asian DNA.” Science News, 14 Apr. 2021, www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-coronavirus-epidemic-east-asia-dna-covid.
An ancient coronavirus, or a closely related pathogen, triggered an epidemic among ancestors of present-day East Asians roughly 25,000 years ago, a new study indicates. Analysis of DNA from more than 2,000 people shows that genetic changes in response to that persistent epidemic accumulated over the next 20,000 years or so, David Enard, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, reported April 8 at the virtual annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Enard’s group consulted a publicly available DNA database of 2,504 individuals from 26 ethnic populations on five continents, including Chinese Dai, Vietnamese Kinh and African Yoruba people. The team first focused on 420 proteins known to interact with coronaviruses, including 332 that interact with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. These interactions could range from boosting immune responses to making it easier for a virus to hijack a cell. Substantially increased production of all 420 proteins, a sign of past exposures to coronavirus-like epidemics, appeared only in East Asians. Enard’s group traced the viral responses of 42 of those proteins back to roughly 25,000 years ago. An analysis of the genes known to orchestrate production of those proteins determined that specific variants became more common around 25,000 years ago before leveling off in frequency by around 5,000 years ago. That pattern is consistent with an initially vigorous genetic response to a virus that waned over time, either as East Asians adapted to the virus or as the virus lost its ability to cause disease, Enard said. Twenty-one of the 42 gene variants act either to enhance or deter the effects of a wide array of viruses, not just coronaviruses, suggesting that an unknown virus that happened to exploit similar proteins as coronaviruses could have instigated the ancient epidemic, Enard said.
These findings are important because they raise the possibility that some East Asians today have inherited biological adaptations to coronaviruses or closely related viruses and ultimately helps us learn more about the current pandemic. This discovery opens the way to exploring how genes linked to ancient viral epidemics may contribute to modern disease outbreaks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Genes with ancient viral histories might also provide clues to researchers searching for better antiviral drugs, although that remains to be demonstrated.
This article was generally well-written because it included a plethora of information conducted within the study, which allows the audience to completely understand the topic at hand. The author also included a variety of sources, whether it be experts in the field or links to other articles, ultimately establishing their credibility to the reader. Despite these areas, there are a few areas for improvement. For instance, the author repeatedly states that there were “genetic changes” in response to the epidemic from 20,000 years ago, but failed to ever explain what those changes were. Despite this, the article was an interesting read and provided intriguing information concerning the idea of modern DNA already having been exposed to coronaviruses.
Willy Swenson
ReplyDeleteCurrent Event 19
Baclija, Kelly. “Hints of an Ancient Coronavirus Outbreak Appear in Modern East Asian DNA.” Blogspot.com, 16 Apr. 2021, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2021/04/hints-of-ancient-coronavirus-outbreak.html. Accessed 16 Apr. 2021.
Bower, Bruce. “Hints of an Ancient Coronavirus Outbreak Appear in Modern East Asian DNA.” Science News, 14 Apr. 2021, www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-coronavirus-epidemic-east-asia-dna-covid.
In Kelly’s review of “Hints of an Ancient Coronavirus Outbreak Appear in Modern East Asian DNA”, Kelly did an amazing job to summarize this article. It is very important, especially in this type of format, to have a comprehensive review of the article. Since the reader is not reading the review, we must rely on the author’s summary of their article to make informed decisions of our own on the topic at hand. I think Kelly did a great job at this. Secondly, I thought Kelly did a good job of keeping her tone professional and formal. In these types of review, it is important to keep a professional tone, so your claims sound less biased and more credible. While she did have a good personal tone as well, the professional tone was good for the review. Lastly, she opened the review with a great hook. She started by asking the reader a series of interesting questions that got the reader hooked on what she had to say. I myself wanted to continue reading after asking those questions to myself.
Two areas in which Kelly could improve upon is supporting evidence and personal connection. I thought Kelly’s review lacked specific evidence to substantiate her claims. For example, many of her claims were not supported by the article she read or any outside information. Although I trust Kelly not to lie in her reviews, I believe that her article can be strengthened by adding in some specific evidence. Lastly, I think that Kelly could’ve made better connections to how it impacts our lives. While she did talk about society and the country as a whole, I would have liked it if Kelly focused more on the local ecosystem, such as how it could’ve impacted our school, doctors in Bronxville, or something along those lines.
I chose this article because I did not know much about the ancient coronavirus. Before reading this review, I did not think it was important but I was sorely mistaken. I had a moment of realization that science is hard and history is important. I thought it was so cool to read about how the ancient people fought against the same virus we are currently living with.
Julia Reich
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
4/26/21
Link to blog
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/
Bower, Bruce. “Hints of an Ancient Coronavirus Outbreak Appear in Modern East Asian DNA.” Science News, 14 Apr. 2021, www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-coronavirus-epidemic-east-asia-dna-covid.
Kelly’s review of the article “Hints of an Ancient Coronavirus Outbreak Appear in Modern East Asia DNA” was incredibly interesting and well written. One aspect of the article she did very well was including information from trustworthy sources. For example, she writes “David Enard, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, reported….” This created a source of reliable information for Kelly’s review. A second aspect she did well was including numerous pieces of data within her review. For example, she writes “An analysis of the genes known to orchestrate production of those proteins determined that specific variants became more common around 25,000 years ago before leveling off in frequency by around 5,000 years ago.” This gives her audience a sense of what she is writing about. Lastly, a final aspect she did well was including how her article connects to our time today. She writes, “these findings are important because they raise the possibility that some East Asians today have inherited biological adaptations to coronaviruses or closely related viruses and ultimately helps us learn more about the current pandemic.” This sentence helps the audience completely understand why the ancient coronavirus outbreak is important today.
Overall, Kelly’s article was well done, but there were a couple aspects she could work one. For starters, she did not define advanced scientific terms such as: pathogen, epidemic, or biological adaptations. For the common reader, these terms may be iffy and barely known. She could easily fix this by simply defining the terms. A second aspect she could work on is furthering the mistakes from her article. She mentioned that her author did not specify “genetic changes,” so Kelly could have researched that on her own to fully understand. Nevertheless, her article was incredibly intriguing and a very informative read.
I chose to read Kelly’s article as the coronavirus is clearly prevalent today and the idea that an incident coronavirus outbreak is appearing in modern East Asia is fascinating. I learned that some East Asians today may have inherited biological adaptations to viruses similar to coronavirus. As well, this new information found by scientists will help us understand COVID-19 better. I was moved by the information and will do further research on my own to grasp a better understanding of the topic.