Baric’s 2000 Method Split Coronavirus Genomes Into 6 Pieces Joined by 5 Restriction Sites for ‘Ease of Genetic Manipulation’—SARS-CoV-2 Is Likewise Split Into 6 Pieces by 5 Restriction Sites

by Jon Fleetwood, Jon Fleetwood: SARS-CoV-2 carries the six-piece, five-restriction-site structure Ralph Baric identified nearly three decades ago as necessary for engineering coronavirus genomes. In a November 2000 Journal of Virology paper, coronavirologist Ralph Baric published a method for making coronavirus genetic sequences more easily manipulable in the lab. The ~30 kb size of coronavirus genomes made […]