Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARSCoV, 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.

Keywords

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Sars virus2019-20 coronavirus outbreakVirologyBetacoronavirusPandemicCoronavirus InfectionsBiologyMedicineOutbreakDiseasePathologyInfectious disease (medical specialty)

MeSH Terms

AdaptationBiologicalAngiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2AnimalsBetacoronavirusBiological EvolutionCOVID-19ChinaChiropteraCoronavirus InfectionsGenomicsHumansMammalsPandemicsPeptidyl-Dipeptidase APneumoniaViralPolysaccharidesRNA CleavageSARS-CoV-2SelectionGeneticSpike GlycoproteinCoronavirusVirus AttachmentZoonoses

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Publication Info

Year
2020
Type
letter
Volume
26
Issue
4
Pages
450-452
Citations
5448
Access
Closed

External Links

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Cite This

Kristian G. Andersen, Andrew Rambaut, W. Ian Lipkin et al. (2020). The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. Nature Medicine , 26 (4) , 450-452. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9

Identifiers

DOI
10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9
PMID
32284615
PMCID
PMC7095063

Data Quality

Data completeness: 86%