Department of Basic and Clinical Sciences, University of Nicosia Medical School, Nicosia, Cyprus.
BMC Med Genomics. 2022 Mar 18;15(1):62. doi: 10.1186/s12920-022-01208-w.
The origin of SARS-CoV-2 is uncertain. Findings support a "bat origin" but results are not highly convincing. Studies found evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was around for many years before the pandemic outbreak. Evidence has been published that the progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 already had the capability to bind strongly to the human ACE2 receptor. This may be an indication that many other animal viruses are capable to jump to humans, having already affinity for a human receptor. This is quite worrying since current ecosystems' collapse brings people to high proximity with animals, increasing probabilities for random viral transitions. On the other hand, future adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 is of great concern. Virus-host interactions are complicated and unfortunately, we still do not have accurate tools for predicting viruses' future evolution. Viral adaptation is a multifactorial process and probably SARS-CoV-2 will not become soon, as we wish, a harmless infection. However, humanity is currently under the largest vaccination program and it's of great interest to see if vaccinations will change the evolutionary game against the virus.
新冠病毒（SARS-CoV-2）的起源尚不确定。有研究结果支持其“源自蝙蝠”，但说服力不够强。有研究发现，在此次大流行爆发之前，SARS-CoV-2 已经存在多年。有证据表明，SARS-CoV-2 的祖先进化而来的病毒株已经具备与人类 ACE2 受体强力结合的能力。这表明，许多其他动物病毒也有可能感染人类，因为它们已经对人类受体具有亲和力。鉴于当前生态系统的崩溃使人类与动物更加接近，增加了随机病毒传播的可能性，这种情况令人担忧。另一方面，人们非常关注 SARS-CoV-2 的未来适应性。病毒与宿主的相互作用非常复杂，不幸的是，我们仍然没有准确的工具来预测病毒未来的进化。病毒适应是一个多因素的过程，SARS-CoV-2 可能不会像我们希望的那样很快成为一种无害的感染。然而，人类目前正在实施有史以来最大规模的疫苗接种计划，人们非常关注疫苗接种是否会改变与病毒的进化博弈。
