Journal
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY
Volume 92, Issue 10, Pages 1932-1937Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/jmv.25909
Keywords
bat coronavirus; COVID-19; disease-X; evolution; pandemic; population genetics; SARS-CoV-2; virus bioinformatics
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Funding
- Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for the Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics grant
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Coronavirus disease 2019 emerged as the first example of Disease X, a hypothetical disease of humans caused by an unknown infectious agent that was named as novel coronavirus and subsequently designated as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The origin of the outbreak at the animal market in Wuhan, China implies it as a case of zoonotic spillover. The study was designed to understand evolution of Betacoronaviruses and in particular diversification of SARS-CoV-2 using RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene, a stable genetic marker. Phylogenetic and population stratification analyses were carried out using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods, respectively. Molecular phylogeny using RdRp showed that SARS-CoV-2 isolates cluster together. Bat-CoV isolate RaTG13 and Pangolin-CoVs are observed to branch off prior to SARS-CoV-2 cluster. While SARS-CoV form a single cluster, Bat-CoVs form multiple clusters. Population-based analyses revealed that both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV form separate clusters with no admixture. Bat-CoVs were found to have single and mixed ancestry and clustered as four sub-populations. Population-based analyses of Betacoronaviruses using RdRp revealed that SARS-CoV-2 is a homogeneous population. SARS-CoV-2 appears to have evolved from Bat-CoV isolate RaTG13, which diversified from a common ancestor from which Pangolin-CoVs have also evolved. The admixed Bat-CoV sub-populations indicate that bats serve as reservoirs harboring virus ensembles that are responsible for zoonotic spillovers such as SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. The extent of admixed isolates of Bat-CoVs observed in population diversification studies underline the need for periodic surveillance of bats and other animal reservoirs for potential spillovers as a measure towards preparedness for emergence of zoonosis.
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