Unraveling the origin of SARS-CoV-2: is the model good?

Roger Frutos (1, 2) , Laurent Gavotte (3) , Christian Devaux (4, 5, 6)

1 UMR INTERTRYP - Interactions hôtes-vecteurs-parasites-environnement dans les maladies tropicales négligées dues aux trypanosomatides
2 Cirad-BIOS - Département Systèmes Biologiques
3 IMAGES-Espace DEV - Institut de Modélisation et d'Analyses en géo-environnement et santé - Espace Développement
4 MEPHI - Microbes évolution phylogénie et infections
5 IHU Marseille - Institut Hospitalier Universitaire Méditerranée Infection
6 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

MacLean and colleagues recently published a very elegant analysis demonstrating that SARS-CoV-2 carries signs of positive selection and that it was already adapted to humans prior to the emergence of COVID-19. Using the Spillover theory as a reference model for zoonotic emergence, they conclude that SARS-CoV-2 must have acquired this human adaptation in bats. We reinterpreted the data from MacLean et al. using a different model of zoonotic emergence as reference, the Circulation model. The use of the Circulation model provides a more parsimonious interpretation showing that this adaptation to humans occurs in the human population after primo infection.

Keywords: Covid-19; circulation model; emergence; evolution in humans; SARS-CoV-2

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Bacteriology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Virology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Parasitology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Cardiology and cardiovascular system; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Emerging diseases; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Infectious diseases

Roger Frutos, Laurent Gavotte, Christian Devaux. Unraveling the origin of SARS-CoV-2: is the model good?. New Microbes and New Infections, 2021, pp.100918. ⟨10.1016/j.nmni.2021.100918⟩. ⟨hal-03300039⟩