The absence of a perfect match has prompted many to suggest that the virus was patched up in a laboratory from where it escaped. This is a controversial theory, but it cannot be formally ruled out until we find a match to SARS-CoV-2 in nature.12 But we do not need to resort to this theory of deliberate genetic engineering, when a simpler natural one exists. Some viruses such as influenza viruses and coronaviruses mix and match different genetic pieces all the time. In fact, genetic mixing is what makes influenza subtypes acquire pandemic potential. Massive reassortment of coronaviruses in bats
...more
