Evidence linking a novel merbecovirus-MERS chimeric infectious clone contaminating pre-pandemic Wuhan rice datasets to the Wuhan Institute of Virology

An infectious clone of a novel merbecovirus was previously identified contaminating pre-pandemic rice sequencing datasets from Wuhan. Evidence indicated the presence of an additional chimeric infectious clone that incorporated the MERS-CoV spike gene into the novel merbecovirus backbone, which would be expected to increase infectivity in humans, consistent with dangerous Gain of Function (dGOF). Sequences flanking the novel merbecovirus genome are shown here to match pBAC-CMV, a plasmid constructed by Dr Zhengli Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The plasmid is shown to be circular and so transformable and transfective. The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) sequence of the infectious clone has a 100 % match with a RdRp sequence generated by the Shi lab, ‘isolate 152762’, sampled from lesser bamboo bat Tylonycteris pachypus from Southern China, published in Latinne et al (2020). Additional evidence is presented of genetic manipulation of the chimera MERS-CoV spike sequence using No See’m technology and the BsaI restriction enzyme. The new information indicates that the infectious clones were constructed by WIV researchers, prior to contaminating samples from other labs during preparation and sequencing. Given the Biological Weapon Convention’s requirements, transparency regarding the purpose and approval process of such experiments would be valuable. US federal funds contributed to the creation of pBAC-CMV, sampling of isolate 152762 and generation of its RdRp sequence, thereby supporting creation of the chimera and dGOF work, indicating a lack of adequate biosecurity safeguards. The data are consistent with dGOF experimentation on novel bat coronaviruses from Southern China by the WIV prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.