Question

All humans share some fundamental
characteristics inherited from their Australopithecus ancestors. But humans share
more characteristics than what was listed on those slides – characteristics also shared
with most animals. One of these is the cell membrane protein ACE-2.
ACE-2 is a highly conserved protein, meaning that mutations in the ACE-2 gene are
rare. Studies of how these rare mutations are distributed across the human world
population are still in early stages (Cao et al. 2020). However, four things are clear:
1) Every human has the ACE-2 protein.
2) ACE-2 gene variations have to do with how many proteins get made (gene
expression) in the body rather than differences in the protein shape itself.
3) ACE-2 gene expression is also affected by environmental factors, including
certain medications.
4) The difference in gene expression between men and women is small; however, it is still very likely to be greater than between different geographic
populations. This is because there is more genetic variation within human populations than among human populations.
Given this information:

Do you think it is reasonable to hypothesize that SARS-CoV-2
could be a bioweapon targeted at a specific ethnic or geographic population?
Explain your answer.

Answer 1

It's false to hypothesize that SARS-CoV-2 could be a bioweapon targeted at a specific ethnic or geographic population. Let's see why SARS-CoV2 might not be a bioweapon targeted against particular ethnicity based on the information provided.

1. Angiotensin converting enzyme-2 is known as an entry point for a virus into the cell. Spike protein present on the virus binds to ACE-2 protein present on the cell membrane.

2. ACE-2 gene variations causes changes in number of proteins expressed rather than the shape. Shape of the protein plays an important role in ligand binding. It is proven that genetic variants of ACE-2 where there is a shape change in the protein structure lead to resistance in ligand binding. Affinity between ligand and receptor plays important role in virus entry. Hence expulsion of virus from entering into the cell.

3. The difference in gene expression is small between the human population indicates that all the population have equal chance of getting affected by the virus rather than any particular ethnicity. Though environmental factors have a influence on the gene expression but it is less likely to have influence on the particular ethnicity.