Evidence of the recombinant origin of a bat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronavirus and its implications on the direct ancestor of SARS coronavirus.

ABSTRACT: Bats have been identified as the natural reservoir of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like and SARS coronaviruses (SLCoV and SCoV). However, previous studies suggested that none of the currently sampled bat SLCoVs is the descendant of the direct ancestor of SCoV, based on their relatively distant phylogenetic relationship. In this study, evidence of the recombinant origin of the genome of a bat SLCoV is demonstrated. We identified a potential recombination breakpoint immediately after the consensus intergenic sequence between open reading frame 1 and the S coding region, suggesting the replication intermediates may participate in the recombination event, as previously speculated for other CoVs. Phylogenetic analysis of its parental regions suggests the presence of an uncharacteriz

SUBMITTER: Hon CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2258724 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature