Unravelling the origin of SARS-CoV-2: is the model good?

R Frutos; L Gavotte; C A Devaux

doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2021.100918

Unravelling the origin of SARS-CoV-2: is the model good?

New Microbes New Infect. 2021 Sep:43:100918. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2021.100918. Epub 2021 Jul 16.

Authors

R Frutos¹, L Gavotte², C A Devaux³

Affiliations

¹ Cirad, UMR 17, Intertryp, Montpellier, France.
² Espace-Dev, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
³ IHU-Méditerranée Infection and CNRS, Marseille, France.

Abstract

MacLean and colleagues recently published a very elegant analysis demonstrating that SARS-CoV-2 carries signs of positive selection and that it was already adapted to humans prior to the emergence of COVID-19. Using the Spillover theory as a reference model for zoonotic emergence, they conclude that SARS-CoV-2 must have acquired this human adaptation in bats. We reinterpreted the data from MacLean et al. using a different model of zoonotic emergence as reference, the Circulation model. The use of the Circulation model provides a more parsimonious interpretation showing that this adaptation to humans occurs in the human population after primo infection.

Keywords: Covid-19; SARS-CoV-2; circulation model; emergence; evolution in humans.