H-3 - SARS-CoV-2 originated by natural evolution in a bat sarbecovirus reservoir
Properties11
type
hypothesis
id
H-3
state
dropped
question
What is the evolutionary origin of SARS-CoV-2?
statement
SARS-CoV-2 arose by natural evolution and recombination within the wild bat (Rhinolophus) sarbecovirus reservoir — of which RaTG13 and the BANAL viruses are known members, the latter already binding human ACE2 — before spilling into humans.
Not a competing answer to the run's question but a background claim compatible with every member of HC-1 — a naturally evolved bat sarbecovirus can spill over at a market or be collected and escape a laboratory — so it clusters nowhere; its only discriminating content (natural vs engineered genome) is already carried inside H-5's statement, where O-10/O-11/O-12 score it exactly once.
Widened from the RaTG13 clade specifically to the wild bat sarbecovirus reservoir generally, giving up the distinction between which known clade (RaTG13 vs BANAL) is the nearest relative; no curated observation makes that distinction a competing answer.