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Origins of SARS‐CoV‐1 and SARS‐CoV‐2 are often poorly explored in leading publications
Author(s) -
Wenzel John
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
cladistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.323
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1096-0031
pISSN - 0748-3007
DOI - 10.1111/cla.12425
Subject(s) - covid-19 , ambiguity , phylogenetic tree , taxon , biology , evolutionary biology , virology , history , geography , data science , disease , ecology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , medicine , computer science , pathology , outbreak , genetics , gene , programming language
Abstract In the rush to understand the coronaviruses that threaten human health, authors of many prominent papers have not performed phylogenetic analyses to the standard of the field today. Errors include faulty placement of the root of the phylogeny, outdated methods of reconstruction, poor taxon sampling, inappropriate emphasis on selected functional elements, and inadequate consideration of ambiguity. As a result, certain conclusions regarding the origin of human infections are not supported soundly or are wrong.