TY - JOUR
T1 - Bioinformatic analysis indicates that SARS-CoV-2 is unrelated to known artificial coronaviruses
AU - Dallavilla, T.
AU - Bertelli, M.
AU - Morresi, A.
AU - Bushati, V.
AU - Stuppia, L.
AU - Beccari, T.
AU - Chiurazzi, P.
AU - Marceddu, G.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Authors wish to thank Prof. Lucio Luzzatto and Prof. Michele Samaja for their critical reading of the manuscript and their precious suggestions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Verduci Editore s.r.l. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - 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 AND METHODS: 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.
AB - 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 AND METHODS: 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.
KW - Biotechnology
KW - Chimeric virus
KW - CoViD-19
KW - SARS
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - SLSHC014-MA15
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U2 - 10.26355/eurrev_202004_21041
DO - 10.26355/eurrev_202004_21041
M3 - Article
C2 - 32373995
AN - SCOPUS:85084277197
VL - 24
SP - 4558
EP - 4564
JO - European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences
JF - European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences
SN - 1128-3602
IS - 8
ER -