Strongest Evidence Yet Shows SARS-CoV-2 May Insert Itself Into The Human Genome - ScienceAlert

Our genome is a graveyard littered with genetic fragments of viruses that once plagued our ancestors.

But SARS-CoV-2 simply isn't equipped with the tools to bury itself in our genetic library, meaning it would need a way to convince our own bodies to manage the job on its behalf.

Last year, Zhang and his team shared the initial results of an investigation suggesting SARS-CoV-2 might have a means of accomplishing such a task after all.

In addition to looking for chimeras of coronavirus-human genetic fragments and watching for signs of the virus commandeering transcription tools, the team directly searched for evidence of viral sequences actually inside the human genome.

In each case, they found fragments of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material slipped into the genetic library of deliberately infected cells, like pages torn from a contraband book.

However, the fact this work was done in laboratory-infected cell cultures and not actual human hosts still leaves room for doubt. There's also the question of what it means – while the fragments aren't capable of building new infectious particles, it's far from clear whether they might be biologically active in other ways, for good or bad.