Abstract
Over the last two decades, the world experienced three outbreaks of coronaviruses with elevated morbidity rates. Currently, the global community is facing emerging virus SARS-CoV-2 belonging to Betacoronavirus, which appears to be more transmissible but less deadly than SARS-CoV. The current study aimed to track the evolutionary ancestors and different evolutionary strategies that were genetically adapted by SARS-CoV-2. Our whole-genome analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2 was the descendant of Bat SARS/SARS-like CoVs and bats served as a natural reservoir. SARS-CoV-2 used mutations and recombination as crucial strategies in different genomic regions including the envelop, membrane, nucleocapsid, and spike glycoproteins to become a novel infectious agent. We confirmed that mutations in different genomic regions of SARS-CoV-2 have specific influence on virus reproductive adaptability, allowing for genotype adjustment and adaptations in rapidly changing environments. Moreover, for the first time we identified nine putative recombination patterns in SARS-CoV-2, which encompass spike glycoprotein, RdRp, helicase and ORF3a. Six recombination regions were spotted in the S gene and are undoubtedly important for evolutionary survival, meanwhile this permitted the virus to modify superficial antigenicity to find a way from immune reconnaissance in animals and adapt to a human host. With these combined natural selected strategies, SARS-CoV-2 emerged as a novel virus in human society.
Highlights
The global community is at the peak of emerging bugs, even though the earlier scares of zoonotic viruses were not retained
SARS-CoV-2 is a novel emerging contagious agent that found a way into human civilization
The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 is the third pandemic of the 21st century and the situation is still ongoing
Summary
The global community is at the peak of emerging bugs, even though the earlier scares of zoonotic viruses were not retained. The re-emergence of viral agents is a great threat and challenge for the global health community [1]. The global community has witnessed that over the last two decades, the world has experienced three outbreaks of coronaviruses with elevated morbidity rates. China, which got the attention of the world [2]. Researchers and the Chinese government responded swiftly, and after deep etiological and sequencing investigation, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses entitled it as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [3]. The SARS-CoV-2 belongs to Betacoronavirus, a member of the subfamily Coronavirinae having four genera: Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus, and Deltacoronavirus in family
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