[folli]

Read the paper, they actually only match 2 inserts, the other two inserts are modified by the authors in such a way that they are made to match (Table 1).

Both inserts 1 and 2 also match to Streptococcus phage, but a bacteriophage would of course not be such a bold claim as HIV matches are.

Also, be aware that because of the scientific interest in HIV, there are hundreds of HIV strains sequenced, a virus known for its mutation rate (especially in these two proteins gp120 and gag, as they are under pressure to mutate in order to evade the immunesystem). So in such a large library of protein sequences one is bound to find a match of a short 6 letter (amino acid) sequence. That's why E values exist to make a statement about the statistical significance.

[folli]

For posteriority, here's the link to the Blast results for the second insert: https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?CMD=Get&RID=39ACRKV...

[im3w1l]

Hello posteriority here! I wanted to reference these comments in a discussion but the links expired :/

[Palptine]

Large HIV database inflating matches is indeed a big concern. But dismissing one miss matches sounds arbitrary: these segments were not arbitrarily selected, but real insertions on tops of sars.

[folli]

Again, take any random six letter amino acid sequence and chances are high that it matches to some HIV protein.

I just did the experiment with my first name that is coincidentally 6 letters long, and lo and behold: a match to HIV env protein!

Has my first name now been designed by a bioweapons facility?

[AnimalMuppet]

> Has my first name now been designed by a bioweapons facility?

No, of course not. Your parents were designed by a bioweapons facility, so that they would choose that name.

;-)

[folli]

You revealed my secret