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While the origin of the new Coronavirus is not yet known, we do know where new viruses normally come from. Hint: Darwin’s theory of evolution is full of clues!
In this animation you will get a crash course in virology. You’ll learn how viruses differ from other microbes, why most viruses can only infect one type of host organism, and how viruses evolve to infect new hosts.
For more information on evolution, visit https://www.statedclearly.com/
For more information on the idea that this virus may have come from a lab, see our article here: https://www.statedclearly.com/articles/did-the-new-coronavirus-came-from-a-lab/
For an excellent and accurate Q&A about the coronavirus, including things about how it is treated and how to stay safe, see this video by Dr. Ines Dawson. It’s long but don’t worry, in the video description she has a table of contents. Click the question you care about and it will jump right to that spot in the video! https://youtu.be/oA8XYSftmtQ
Further Reading:
Overview of how new viruses evolve during spillover events
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2546865/
SARS coronavirus seems to have gone from bats to civets to people https://www.who.int/ith/diseases/sars/en/
RNA recombination as a source of genetic novelty in coronaviruses: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC241489/pdf/jvirol00041-0423.pdf
How recombination and reassortment work:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro2614
Recombination in single stranded RNA viruses
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3324781/
The evolution of SARS and a prediction that new coronaviruses will evolve in the future
https://jvi.asm.org/content/84/7/3134
How coronaviruses enter cells via binding and endocytosis: https://jvi.asm.org/content/92/3/e01933-17
https://www.nature.com/articles/cr200815
How we stopped the SARS coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/about/history/sars/timeline.htm
Pangolins as a potential intermediate host
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00364-2
Corrections:
In the animation I call the virus COVID-19, but this is technically incorrect. COVID-19 is the name of the disease it causes. The virus itself is called SARS CoV 2. Thanks to YouTube user “Charles Starbuck” for pointing out the error.
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There are fossils of viruses, of sorts, preserved in the DNA of the hosts that they’ve infected. Including you. This molecular fossil trail can help us understand where viruses came from, how they evolved and it can even help us tackle the biggest question of all: Are viruses alive?
Produced in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios: http://youtube.com/pbsdigitalstudios
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References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3094976/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4609113/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19270719/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4096385/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3758182/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3190193/
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00679842/document
http://bioinformatics.cvr.ac.uk/paleovirology/site/html/posts/2013-04-15_what_is_paleovirology.html
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/giant-viruses-found-austrian-sewage-fuel-debate-over-potential-fourth-domain-life
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/viruses/a/are-viruses-dead-or-alive
https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/yellowstone/viruslive.html
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/the-origins-of-viruses-14398218#
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/discovery-of-the-giant-mimivirus-14402410
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2976387/
https://www.nature.com/news/giant-viruses-open-pandora-s-box-1.13410
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19561090
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2946954/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906475/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3179036/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/a-7000-year-old-virus-sequenced-from-a-neolithic-mans-tooth/559862/
http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/Q9P2P1
http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1001191
