Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Natural and Unnatural History of The Coronavirus: The Uncertain Path to The Pandemic


Affiliations
1 National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru 560 065, India
 

There is currently an ongoing debate on the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hypothesis that the virus emerged as a result of natural zoonotic transfer has been controversially questioned, on the basis of unusual sequence signatures in the spike protein and the absence of evidence for an intermediate animal host. This article briefly surveys the background to coronavirus research and addresses the development of the methods of gain of function research, which have been suggested to be a potential public health threat in the event of laboratory leakage.

Keywords

Coronavirus, Gain of Function Research, SARS-CoV-2, Spike Protein Sequences.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • News and Views, Virology: Coronaviruses. Nature, 1968, 220, 650; doi:10.1038/220650b0

  • Almeida, J. D. and Tyrrell, D. A. J., The morphology of three previously uncharacterised respiratory viruses that grow in organ culture. J. Gen. Virol., 1967, 1, 175–178.

  • Hamre, D. and Procknow, J. J., A new virus isolated from the human respiratory tract. Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med., 1966, 121, 190–193; doi:10.3181/00379727-121-30734.

  • Tyrrell, D. A. J. and Myint, S. H., Coronaviruses. In Medical Microbiology (ed. Baron, S.), University of Texas, Galveston, 1996, 4th edn, ch. 60.

  • Tyrrell, D. A. J. and Fiedler, M., Cold Wars: The Fight Against the Common Cold, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 268.

  • Reilley, B. et al., SARS and Carlo Urbani. N. Engl. J. Med., 2003, 348, 1951–1952; doi:10.1056/NEJMp030080.

  • Cherry, J. D. and Krogstad, P., SARS: the first pandemic of the 21st century. Paediatric Res., 2004, 56, 1–5; doi:10.1203/01.PDR.0000129184.87042.FC.

  • Baric, R. S., Lessons for global health. Virus Res., 2008, 133, 1–3.

  • Marra, M. A. et al., The genome sequence of the SARS-associated coronavirus. Science, 2003, 300, 1399–1404.

  • Rota, P. A. et al., Characterization of a novel coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome. Science, 2003, 300, 1394–1398.

  • Susanna, K. P. et al., Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruslike virus in Chinese horseshoe bats. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2005, 102, 14040–14045; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0506735102

  • Guan, Y. et al., Isolation and characterisation of viruses related to the SARS coronavirus from animals in Southern China. Science, 2003, 302, 276–278.

  • Xiao, X. et al., Animal sales from Wuhan wet markets immediately prior to the COVID19 pandemic. Scientif. Rep., 2021, 11, 11898; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91470-2

  • Cui, J., Li, F. and Shi, Z.-L., Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses. Nature Revs. Microbiol., 2019, 17, 181–192.

  • Zhou, P., A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature, 2020, 579, 270–273.

  • Segreto, R. et al., Should we discount the laboratory origin of COVID-19? Environ. Chem. Lett., 2021; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01211-0

  • Wade, N., The origin of COVID: did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan? Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 5 May 2021; https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-ornatureopen-pandoras-box-at-wuhan

  • Jacobsen, R., How amateur sleuths broke the Wuhan Lab Story and embarrassed the media. Newsweek, 2 June 2021; https:// www.newsweek.com/exclusive-how-amateur-sleuths-broke-wuhanlabstory-embarrassed-media-1596958

  • Calisher, C. et al., Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combating COVID-19. Lancet, 2020, 395, e42–e43.

  • Andersen, K. G. et al., The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. Nature Med., 2020, 26, 450–455.

  • Balaram, P., The murky origins of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Curr. Sci., 2021, 120(11), 1663–1666.

  • Yount, B. et al., Reverse genetics with a full-length infectious cDNA of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2003, 100, 12995–13000.

  • Li, W. et al., Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is a functional receptor for the SARS coronavirus. Nature, 2003, 426, 450–454; doi:10.1038/nature02145.

  • Lassnig, C. et al., Development of a transgenic mouse model susceptible to human coronavirus 229E. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2005, 102, 8275–8280.

  • Baric, R. S. and Sims, A. C., Humanized mice develop coronavirus respiratory disease. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2005, 102, 8073–8074.

  • Menachery, V. D. et al., A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence. Nature Med., 2015, 21, 1508–1513.

  • Menachery, V. D. et al., Corrigendum. Nature Med., doi:10.1038/ nm.3985 (corrected 20 November 2015).

  • Menachery, V. D. et al., Author correction: A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence. Nature Med., Published online: 22 May 2020; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0924-2.

  • Zhou, P. et al., Addendum: A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature, 2020, 588, E6; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2951-z (17 November 2020).

  • Rahalkar, M. C. and Bahulikar, R. A., Lethal pneumonia cases in Mojiang miners (2012) and the mineshaft could provide important clues to the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Frontiers in Public Health, October 2020; https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.581569/full

  • Klenk, H.-D. et al., Activation of influenza A viruses by trypsin treatment. Virology, 1975, 68, 426–439.

  • Menachery, V. D. et al., Trypsin treatment unlocks barrier for Zoonotic Bat Coronavirus Infection. J. Virology, 2020, 94(5), e01774-19.

  • Peacock, T. P. et al., The SARS-CoV-2 variants associated with infections in India, B.1.617, show enhanced spike cleavage by furin. bioRxiv; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.28.446163

  • Lin, C., Why US outsourced bat virus research to Wuhan. ISPSW Strategy Series: Focus on Defense and International Security, April 2020, issue 689; https://www.ispsw.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/04/689_Lin.pdf

  • Reardon, S., Ban on pathogen studies lifted. Nature, 2018, 552, 11; https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-01708837-7/d41586-017-08837-7.pdf

  • Sheahan, T. P. and Baric, R. S., Is regulation preventing the development of therapeutics that may prevent future coronavirus pandemics? Future Virol., 2018, 13, 143–146.

  • Latinne, A., Origin and cross-species transmission of bat coronaviruses in China. Nature Commun., 2020, 11, 4235; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17687-3

  • Zhou, H. et al., Identification of novel bat coronaviruses sheds light on the evolutionary origins of SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses. Cell, 2021 (in press); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.06.008

  • Daszak. P., Interview, December 2019; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdYDL_RK--w

  • Bloom, J. D. et al., Investigate the origins of COVID-19. Science, 2021, 372, 694.

  • Jiang, R.-D. et al., Pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in transgenic mice expressing human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. Cell, 2020, 182, 50–58.

  • Tumpey, T. M. et al., Characterization of the reconstructed 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic virus. Science, 2005, 310, 77–80.

  • Sharp, P. A., Editorial. 1918 Flu and responsible science. Science, 2005, 310, 17.

  • Kennedy, D., Better never than late. Science, 2005, 310, 195.

  • Imperiale, M. J., Howard, D. and Casadevall, A., The silver lining in gain-of-function experiments with pathogens of pandemic potential. In Influenza Virus: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology (ed. Yamauchi, Y.), 2018, vol. 1836, ch. 28, pp. 575–587; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8678-1_28

  • Taubenberger, J. K. et al., Reconstruction of the 1918 influenza virus: unexpected rewards from the past. mBio, 2012, 3, e00201–e00212.


Abstract Views: 334

PDF Views: 122




  • Natural and Unnatural History of The Coronavirus: The Uncertain Path to The Pandemic

Abstract Views: 334  |  PDF Views: 122

Authors

P. Balaram
National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru 560 065, India

Abstract


There is currently an ongoing debate on the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hypothesis that the virus emerged as a result of natural zoonotic transfer has been controversially questioned, on the basis of unusual sequence signatures in the spike protein and the absence of evidence for an intermediate animal host. This article briefly surveys the background to coronavirus research and addresses the development of the methods of gain of function research, which have been suggested to be a potential public health threat in the event of laboratory leakage.

Keywords


Coronavirus, Gain of Function Research, SARS-CoV-2, Spike Protein Sequences.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv120%2Fi12%2F1820-1826