RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Detailed phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 reveals latent capacity to bind human ACE2 receptor
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.06.22.165787
DO 10.1101/2020.06.22.165787
A1 Brintnell, Erin
A1 Gupta, Mehul
A1 Anderson, Dave W
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/06/23/2020.06.22.165787.abstract
AB SARS-CoV-2 is a once-in-a-century pandemic, having emerged suddenly as a highly infectious viral pathogen. Previous phylogenetic analyses show its closest known evolutionary relative to be a virus isolated from bats (RaTG13), with a common assumption that SARS-CoV-2 evolved from a zoonotic ancestor via recent genetic changes (likely in the Spike protein receptor binding domain – or RBD) that enabled it to infect humans. We used detailed phylogenetic analysis, ancestral sequence reconstruction, and molecular dynamics simulations to examine the Spike-RBD’s functional evolution, finding to our surprise that it has likely possessed high affinity for human cell targets since at least 2013.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.