The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2

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The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2

 Authors: 1,2 ✉ Kristian G. Andersen, Andrew Rambaut   3, W. Ian Lipkin4, Edward C. Holmes   5 and Robert F. Garry6,7
1Department of Immunology and Microbiology,
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
2Scripps Research Translational Institute, La
Jolla, CA, USA.
3Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. 4Center for Infection and Immunity, Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
5Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. 6Tulane University, School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New Orleans, LA, USA. 7Zalgen Labs, Germantown, MD, USA. ✉e-mail: andersen@scripps.edu

To the Editor — Since the first reports of novel pneumonia (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China1,2, there has been considerable discussion on the origin of the causative virus, SARS-CoV-23 (also referred to as HCoV-19)4. Infections with SARS-CoV-2 are now widespread, and as of 11 March 2020, 121,564 cases have been confirmed in more than 110 countries, with 4,373 deaths5.
SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERS- CoV and SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe disease, whereas HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E are associated with mild symptoms6. Here we review what can be deduced about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from comparative analysis of genomic data. We offer a perspective on the notable features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss scenarios by which they could have arisen. Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.

 DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9

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