Non-Molecular-Clock-Like Evolution following Viral Origins in Homo sapiens
Wendy Mok1, Kelly Seto2 and Jon Stone3
1Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton ON L8S 4K1, Canada. 2Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto ON M5S 1A8, Canada. 3Department of Biology and Origins Institute, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
Abstract: Researchers routinely adopt molecular clock assumptions in conducting sequence analyses to estimate dates for viral origins in humans. We used computational methods to examine the extent to which this practice can result in inaccurate ‘retrodiction.’ Failing to account for dynamic molecular evolution can affect greatly estimating index case dates, resulting in an overestimated age for the SARS-CoV-human infection, for instance.
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