And might this have happened to SARS-CoV-2?
SARS-CoV-2 is well adapted for humans. What does this mean for re-emergence?
Shing Hei Zhan, Benjamin E. Deverman, Yujia Alina Chan
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.01.073262
– Abstract
– In a side-by-side comparison of evolutionary dynamics between the 2019/2020 SARS-CoV-2 and the 2003 SARS-CoV, we were surprised to find that SARS-CoV-2 resembles SARS-CoV in the late phase of the 2003 epidemic after SARS-CoV had developed several advantageous adaptations for human transmission. Our observations suggest that by the time SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in late 2019, it was already pre-adapted to human transmission to an extent similar to late epidemic SARS-CoV. However, no precursors or branches of evolution stemming from a less human-adapted SARS-CoV-2-like virus have been detected…