The Pangolin (Coronavirus) Papers

A.    “The Pangolin Papers” presents a robust argument for the lab-mediated origin of SARS-CoV-2, particularly centered on experiments conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) during 2018 and 2019. This report hypothesizes that the activities at WIV, involving Guangdong (GD) Pangolin-CoVs, RaTG13, and other unpublished bat coronaviruses in cell cultures, culminated in recombination and horizontal gene transfer, leading to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.

B.        Furthermore, it challenges the prevailing narrative that the Huanan market served as the origin of the virus, drawing attention to negative SARS-CoV-2 tests in animals, the absence of precursor sequences, the dominance of lineage B, and evidence of viral circulation by September to October 2019, well before the market cases were reported (Bloom, 2023; Caraballo-Ortiz et al., 2022; Samson et al., 2024). The virus features a Furin cleavage site (FCS), likely acquired through recombination, which may have infected laboratory animals and subsequently a human worker, thus initiating the COVID-19 pandemic.

C.        Genetic analysis shows that the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of GD Pangolin-CoV is nearly identical to that of SARS-CoV-2, necessitating minimal mutations for adaptation to humans. Mid-2018 recombination events with bat coronaviruses further facilitated the introduction of the FCS, enhancing human infectivity. SARS-CoV-2 exhibits rapid adaptation in Vero E6 cells, coupled with quasispecies diversity, which increases the likelihood that a lab-derived strain could gain human infectivity.

D.       This report posits that the 99.78% sequence identity between GX_WIV and GX_P2V, along with its laboratory-adapted characteristics, reinforces the assertion that the Wuhan Institute of Virology engineered a precursor to SARS-CoV-2 (Jones et al., unpublished manuscript). Additionally, research by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) appears to have transformed GX_P2V into a highly pathogenic strain, resulting in lethal outcomes in hACE2 mice by 2024, which raises significant concerns about deliberate enhancement (Lai et al., 2024).

F.         The 49-nucleotide Sequence section with a 12 nucleotide identical Furin cleavage site sequence noted by Jones et al., (2022) and Gadboit (2023) in WIV datasets, coupled with claimed atypical codon usage, indicates a synthetic origin is more likely than contamination (Gadboit, 2023a).

G.        Independent research over the past five years aligns with claims of a PLA-driven bio-research network at WIV that exploited pangolin CoVs (2017-2019) under military units like 63919 and AMMS, suggesting a militarized origin for SARS-CoV-2.

H.        The case of Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng, dismissed from Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in 2021, highlights significant biosecurity risks stemming from covert collaborations between Western researchers and Chinese military-linked institutions. Qiu, a virologist, and Cheng, a biologist, were implicated in transferring classified viral sequences, including Ebola and Nipah viruses, to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). 

     Their actions, supported by Chinese military funding and facilitated through unauthorized logistics, raised alarms about intellectual property theft and potential bioweapons development. Investigations revealed a systematic breach of security protocols, with evidence of Qiu's ties to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and her involvement in projects that aligned with military virology agendas. Despite Canadian government reassurances, the incident exposed vulnerabilities in international scientific collaboration and underscored concerns about China's military-driven biotechnological ambitions.

I.          New data reveal that WIV possessed pangolin coronaviruses like GD/2019, with near-identical RBDs to SARS-CoV-2, by 2019, alongside bat viruses with FCS-like insertions (e.g., the mysterious RmYN02), suggesting a lab-mediated recombination event (Liu et al., 2020; Zhou et al., 2020). Cell-line studies indicate Vero E6 induced FCS deletions observed in early patients, while Calu-3 and HAE-ALI refined human tropism, supporting a hypothesis of SARS-CoV-2’s emergence from WIV’s pre-2020 experiments rather than natural spillover (Zhang, 2024a; Zou et al., 2021).

J.         New shell disorder analyses reveal SARS-CoV-2’s rigid M protein (PIDM ~5.9%), akin to GX-P2V/Pang2017, likely honed in VERO E6 cells, bolstering the case for a lab-mediated recombination at WIV with pangolin and bat coronaviruses

K.        As an important yet neglected side note, the investigation into the inaccessible WIV databases underscores significant concerns about transparency and potential cover-ups of research that could clarify the origins of SARS-CoV-2 (Bostickson, Demaneuf & Small, 2021).

L.         In conclusion, the experimental practices at WIV, when considered alongside genetic and historical evidence, strongly support a lab-leak origin for SARS-CoV-2. This challenges the dominant zoonotic hypothesis and underscores the urgent need for renewed scrutiny of biosafety protocols within virology research.