RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A Comprehensive Classification of Coronaviruses and Inferred Cross-Host Transmissions
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.08.11.232520
DO 10.1101/2020.08.11.232520
A1 Yiran Fu
A1 Marco Pistolozzi
A1 Xiaofeng Yang
A1 Zhanglin Lin
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/08/11/2020.08.11.232520.abstract
AB In this work, we present a unified and robust classification scheme for coronaviruses based on concatenated protein clusters. This subsequently allowed us to infer the apparent “horizontal gene transfer” events via reconciliation with the corresponding gene trees, which we argue can serve as a marker for cross-host transmissions. The cases of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 are discussed. Our study provides a possible technical route to understand how coronaviruses evolve and are transmitted to humans.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.