English

Did circoviruses intermediate the recombination between bat and pangolin coronaviruses, yielding SARS-CoV-2?

Genomics 2020-10-02 v1

Abstract

Since the first reports of a coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, scientists are working around the clock to find sound answers to the issue of its origin. While the number of scientific articles on SARS-CoV-2 is increasing, there are still many gaps as to its origin. All studies failed to find a coronavirus in other animals that is more similar to human SARS-COV2 than the bat virus, considered to be the primary reservoir. In this paper we address a new hypothesis, based on a possible recombination between a DNA and SARS-CoV viruses, to explain the rise of SRAS-CoV-2. By comparing SARS-CoV-2 and related CoVs with circoviruses (CVs), we found strong sequence similarity of the genomic region at the 3-end of Bat-CoV ORF1a and the origin of replication (Ori) of porcine CV type 2 (PCV2), as well as similar RNA secondary structures of the region encompassing the cleavage site of CoV S gene with the PCV2 Ori. This constitutes a primary evidence that supports a possible recombination, which occurrence might explain the origin of SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2010.00531,
  title  = {Did circoviruses intermediate the recombination between bat and pangolin coronaviruses, yielding SARS-CoV-2?},
  author = {Nabil Abid and Giovanni Chillemi and Ahmed Rebai},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.00531},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

18 pages, 4 figures