The search for SARS origins – historical context
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At the turn of the millennium, there were just two coronaviruses known to infect and transmit between humans, and they were thought to have diverged from zoonotic ancestors in ancient times. With the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in 2019, the count had risen to seven. The late 1990's saw major breakthroughs in understanding coronavirus host switching and reverse genetic systems which allowed manipulation of genomes in the lab. Might there be a connection, could some human outbreaks be of artificial origin? The answer lies in better understanding mechanisms of viral evolution - specifically recombination, using which - some hypothesize - functional genes can be transferred between quite dissimilar viruses instantaneously.
This is a preface to a paper on the science of recombination, that outlines the geopolitical context of the discoveries and research.
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The search for SARS origins – historical context.pdf
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- Is supplement to
- Publication: https://zenodo.org/records/13476370 (URL)