claim: ' if'mutations gave the coronavirus an evolutionary edge
evidence_1: now, researchers at duke university have identified a number of \"silent\" mutations in the roughly 30,000 letters of the virus's genetic code that helped it thrive once it made the leap -- and possibly helped set the stage for the global pandemic.", "sars-cov-2, the coronavirus that causes covid-19, appears to have evolved silent changes to its rna code that gave it a biological edge over previous strains.", "the researchers report that so-called silent mutations in two other regions of the sars-cov-2 genome, dubbed nsp4 and nsp16, appear to have given the virus a biological edge over previous strains without altering the proteins they encode."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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