By registering tiny genetic changes in a virus called the coronavirus, biologist Trevor Bedford of the Seattle Cancer Research Center Fred Hutch and his colleagues found out not only what the virus is capable of, but also its age.
Since the emergence of the coronavirus, scientists from all over the world have been actively exchanging information about it, including the genetic data of viruses infecting people. By February 12, 2020, the genetic makeup of over 100 samples of the virus was known. The comparison of genomes allowed Bedford and his colleagues to assemble a viral family tree and draw up a route for the spread of infection from genome to genome, from mutation to mutation. So scientists will figure out how the coronavirus is transmitted.
Researchers have discovered identifying mutations in the virus as it travels around the globe - and none of them suggests the virus is becoming more virulent (infectious), Bedford noted. As the virus spreads, it mutates. However, viruses tend to have an "error-prone form of replication." For example, seasonal flu mutations occur every 10 days, and "we are not worried that the flu will suddenly become particularly dangerous."
Genetic mapping also suggests that the new coronavirus is closely related to the bat coronavirus discovered in China in 2013. But these two strains should have started diverging 20-70 years ago. “We have no idea where the virus has been until now,” Bedford throws up his hands.