An evolutionary portrait of the progenitor SARS-CoV-2 and its dominant offshoots in COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: We report the likely most recent common ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 - the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This progenitor SARS-CoV-2 genome was recovered through a novel application and advancement of computational methods initially developed to reconstruct the mutational history of tumor cells in a patient. The progenitor differs from the earliest coronaviruses sampled in China by three variants, implying that none of the earliest patients represent the index case or gave rise to all the human infections. However, multiple coronavirus infections in China and the USA harbored the progenitor genetic fingerprint in January 2020 and later, suggesting that the progenitor was spreading worldwide as soon as weeks after the first reported cases of COVID-19. Mutations of the progenitor and its offsho

SUBMITTER: Kumar S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7523107 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature