Bioinformatic analysis indicates that SARS-CoV-2 is unrelated to known artificial coronaviruses.
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci
; 24(8): 4558-4564, 2020 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-206437
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for the present coronavirus pandemic and some suggestions were made about its possible artificial origin. We, therefore, compared SARS-CoV-2 with such known viruses that were prepared in the laboratory and other relevant natural strains to estimate their genetic relatedness. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
BLAST and clustalW were used to identify and align viral sequences of SARS-CoV-2 to other animal coronaviruses (human, bat, mouse, pangolin) and related artificial constructs. Phylogenetics trees were then prepared using iTOL.RESULTS:
Our study supports the notion that known artificial coronaviruses, including the chimeric SL-SHC014-MA15 synthesized in 2015, differ too much from SARS-CoV-2 to hypothesize an artificial origin of the latter. On the contrary, our data support the natural origin of the COVID-19 virus, likely derived from bats, possibly transferred to pangolins, before spreading to man.CONCLUSIONS:
Speculations about the artificial origin of SARS-CoV-2 are most likely unfounded. On the contrary, when carefully handled, engineered organisms provide a unique opportunity to study biological systems in a controlled fashion. Biotechnology is a powerful tool to advance medical research and should not be abandoned because of irrational fears.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Phylogeny
/
Computational Biology
/
Betacoronavirus
/
Whole Genome Sequencing
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci
Journal subject:
Pharmacology
/
Toxicology
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Eurrev_202004_21041
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