Reviewing Findings on the Polypeptide Sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 S-Protein to Discuss the Origins of the Virus

Abstract

Several investigations suggested origins of SARS-CoV-2 from the recombination of coronaviruses of various animals, including the bat Rhinolophus affinis and the pangolin Manis javanica, despite the processes describing the adaptation from a reservoir of animals to human are still debated. In this perspective, I will remark two main inconsistencies on the origins of SARS-CoV-2: polypeptide sequence alignment of the S-proteins does not return the expected identity of the receptor-binding motif among most of pangolin-CoVs and SARS-CoV-2; accurate referencing for samplings and sequencing deposition of the ancestral bat coronavirus named RaTG13 was missing since the first reports on the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This contribution aims to stimulate discussion about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and considers other intermediate hosts as a reservoir for coronavirus.

Keywords:

• coronavirus
• polypeptide sequence alignment
• RaTG13
• receptor-binding motif
• S-protein
• SARS-CoV-2

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at:www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2217/fvl-2021-0233

Author contributions

AM Cattaneo undertook the whole investigation and wrote the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This investigation was undertaken in the course of the FORMAS Swedish Research Council project no. 2018-00891, title: “Kontroll av skadeinsekter på frukt genom att inrikta sig på”. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.