News-Medical.Net January 1, 2025
Delving deep into bat habitats, scientists uncover how coronaviruses evolve, migrate, and cross-species, shedding light on pandemic origins and future risks.
In a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, a group of researchers investigated the evolution, cross-species transmission, and dispersal of bat coronaviruses (CoVs) in China, identified hotspots of evolutionary diversity, and traced the origins of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Background
CoVs are Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) viruses causing respiratory and enteric diseases in humans and animals, with all human-infecting CoVs being zoonotic in origin, often from bats. Their large genome size, high recombination rates, and genomic plasticity facilitate cross-species transmission and rapid adaptation, leading to outbreaks such as SARS-CoV, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV),...
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