The genetic structure of SARS‐CoV‐2 does not rule out a laboratory origin SARS‐COV‐2 chimeric structure and furin cleavage site might be the result of genetic manipulation

Severe acute respiratory syndrome‐coronavirus (SARS‐CoV)‐2′s origin is still controversial. Genomic analyses show SARS‐CoV‐2 likely to be chimeric, most of its sequence closest to bat CoV RaTG13, whereas its receptor binding domain (RBD) is almost identical to that of a pangolin CoV. Chimeric viruse...

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Veröffentlicht in:	BioEssays Jg. 43; H. 3; S. e2000240
Hauptverfasser:	Segreto, Rossana, Deigin, Yuri
Format:	Journal Article
Sprache:	Englisch
Veröffentlicht:	United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.03.2021 John Wiley and Sons Inc
Schlagworte:	Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 - genetics Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 - metabolism Animals Base Sequence China Chiroptera - virology Cleavage Coronaviruses COVID-19 COVID-19 - pathology COVID-19 - transmission COVID-19 - virology Eutheria - virology Furin Furin - metabolism Genetic Engineering - ethics Genetic structure Genomic analysis genomics Humans Mutagenesis, Site-Directed - methods Pandemics Pholidota (mammals) Problems & Paradigms Protein Binding Reassortant Viruses - genetics Reassortant Viruses - metabolism Reassortant Viruses - pathogenicity Receptors Receptors, Virus - genetics Receptors, Virus - metabolism Recombination SARS-CoV-2 - genetics SARS-CoV-2 - metabolism SARS-CoV-2 - pathogenicity Sequence Alignment Severe acute respiratory syndrome Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Site-directed mutagenesis Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - genetics Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - metabolism Spike protein Viral diseases viruses China receptor binding domain SARS-CoV-2 pangolin CoV furin cleavage site BtCov/4991 Gain-of-function studies RaTG13
ISSN:	0265-9247, 1521-1878, 1521-1878
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Zusammenfassung:	Severe acute respiratory syndrome‐coronavirus (SARS‐CoV)‐2′s origin is still controversial. Genomic analyses show SARS‐CoV‐2 likely to be chimeric, most of its sequence closest to bat CoV RaTG13, whereas its receptor binding domain (RBD) is almost identical to that of a pangolin CoV. Chimeric viruses can arise via natural recombination or human intervention. The furin cleavage site in the spike protein of SARS‐CoV‐2 confers to the virus the ability to cross species and tissue barriers, but was previously unseen in other SARS‐like CoVs. Might genetic manipulations have been performed in order to evaluate pangolins as possible intermediate hosts for bat‐derived CoVs that were originally unable to bind to human receptors? Both cleavage site and specific RBD could result from site‐directed mutagenesis, a procedure that does not leave a trace. Considering the devastating impact of SARS‐CoV‐2 and importance of preventing future pandemics, researchers have a responsibility to carry out a thorough analysis of all possible SARS‐CoV‐2 origins.
Bibliographie:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23 Rossana Segreto and Yuri Deigin contributed equally to this study. No external funding was received for this work.
ISSN:	0265-9247 1521-1878 1521-1878
DOI:	10.1002/bies.202000240