Although the acute respiratory syndromes causing SARS-Coronaviruses are
not new to humanity, the recent SARS-CoV-2 based epidemic has spread to almost
every part of the world and claimed a large number of human lives without any
discrimination of race, gender, and color. However, multiple issues related to its origin,
its transfer time in humans, evolutionary patterns, and underlying forces that derived
the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and pandemic remain unclear. Knowing the pathogen is an
essential step to devise appropriate strategies for controlling and treating associated
infection. This chapter attempts to enhance knowledge regarding the history of SARSCoV-
2 origin, zoonotic transfer events, and related evolutionary adaptions. This
manuscript also provides an overview of various factors that contributed to making this
virus more compatible with infecting the human cell and evaluated the possibility of its
engineered / laboratory-based emergence. Our in-depth literature analysis demonstrated
that SARS-CoV-2 was possibly pre-adopted in different animal species. Molecular
fingerprints and phylogenetic analysis have confirmed high similarity (96% and 84%,
respectively) of SARS-CoV-2 with bats (RaTG13) and pangolins SARS-CoV-like
coronavirus. The genomic similarities of SARS-CoV-2 are due to the spike
glycoprotein and RBD domain and poly cleavage site with bats and pangolin
coronaviruses. It conclusively suggests that it is not a man-made bioweapon but rather
emerged naturally through the recombination process. Thus generated information may
help develop effective treatment strategies for SARS-CoV-2 and avoid the high risk of
its re-emergence in the future.
Keywords: Coronaviruses, Evolutionary Adaptation, Phylogenetic Analysis,
Recombination, SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-like Coronavirus, Zoonotic Transfer.
