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Metagenomic evidence for the co-existence of SARS and H1N1 in patients from 2007-2012 flu seasons in France
Author: Qi Liu,Zhenglin Du,Sihui Zhu,Wenming Zhao,Hua Chen,Yongbiao Xue
Publication: Biosafety and Health
Publisher:Elsevier
Date:Available online 9 November 2021
© 2021 Chinese Medical Association Publishing House. Published by Elsevier BV.
Under a Creative Commons license
open access
Highlights
•Twenty two of 101 patients, collected between 2007 and 2012 H1N1 flu seasons in France, were identified with SARS-CoV sequences.
•The identified SARS-CoV sequences are highly similar to the artificially constructed SARSr-CoV strains generated by the J. Craig Venter Institute in USA.
•The divergence between SARS-CoV strains from different flu seasons can't be explained by natural evolution
•This study raises a serious concern of laboratory biosafety.
Abstract
By re-analzying public metagenomic data from 101 patients infected with influenza A virus during the 2007–2012 H1N1 flu seasons in France, we identified 22 samples with SARS-CoV sequences. In three of them, the SARS genome sequences could be fully assembled out of each. These sequences are highly similar (99.99% and 99.70%) to the artificially constructed recombinant SARS-CoV (SARSr-CoV) strains generated by the J. Craig Venter Institute in the USA. Moreover, samples from different flu seasons have different SARS-CoV strains, and the divergence between these strains cannot be explained by natural evolution. Our study also shows that retrospective studies using public metagenomic data from past major epidemic outbreaks serve as a genomic strategy for the research of the origins or spread of infectious diseases.
Keywords
Metagenomics
SARS-CoV
Influenza A virus
Retrospective study
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