Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Apr 16;181(2):223-227.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.03.035. Epub 2020 Mar 26.

A Genomic Perspective on the Origin and Emergence of SARS-CoV-2

Affiliations

A Genomic Perspective on the Origin and Emergence of SARS-CoV-2

Yong-Zhen Zhang et al. Cell. .

Abstract

The ongoing pandemic of a new human coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has generated enormous global concern. We and others in China were involved in the initial genome sequencing of the virus. Herein, we describe what genomic data reveal about the emergence SARS-CoV-2 and discuss the gaps in our understanding of its origins.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The Huanan Seafood and Wildlife Market in Wuhan, China The photographs (credit: E.C.H.) were taken when both authors visited the market together in October 2014 and highlight some of the wide variety of wildlife on sale, providing a potent mechanism for zoonotic transmission. Importantly, although many of the early COVID-19 cases were linked to this market, its role in the initial emergence of SARS-CoV-2 remains uncertain.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Chinazzi M., Davis J.T., Ajelli M., Gioannini C., Litvinova M., Merler S., Pastore Y Piontti A., Mu K., Rossi L., Sun K. The effect of travel restrictions on the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Science. 2020 doi: 10.1126/science.aba9757. eaba9757. Published online March 6, 2020. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Corman V.M., Landt O., Kaiser M., Molenkamp R., Meijer A., Chu D.K.W., Bleicker T., Brünink S., Schneider J., Schmidt M.L. Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR. Euro Surveill. 2020;25:2000045. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Coutard B., Valle C., de Lamballerie X., Canard B., Seidah N.G., Decroly E. The spike glycoprotein of the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV contains a furin-like cleavage site absent in CoV of the same clade. Antiviral Res. 2020;176:104742. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cui J., Li F., Shi Z.-L. Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 2019;17:181–192. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Grubaugh N.D., Ladner J.T., Lemey P., Pybus O.G., Rambaut A., Holmes E.C., Andersen K.G. Tracking virus outbreaks in the twenty-first century. Nat. Microbiol. 2019;4:10–19. - PMC - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources