Scientists have established the most ancient ancestor of the coronavirus

Oxford University scientists have found that the most ancient precursor of SARS-CoV-1 coronaviruses, which caused an outbreak of SARS in 2002-2004, and SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of covid-19 , existed 21 thousand years ago. This is stated in a study published in the scientific journal Current Biology.

“[It] is almost 30 times older than previous estimates. This creates a new perspective for our understanding of the origin of these viruses, and also suggests that a significant revision in the timelines of the evolution of other viruses can be achieved in a similar way, ”the material notes.

Experts have dated the “age” of the earliest common ancestor of sarbecoviruses with this date.

As the scientists note, viruses can evolve rapidly in a short time, but they must remain adapted to their hosts. Thus, at scale, the rate of viral evolution depends on the rate of evolution of their vectors.