Genetic tracing at the Huanan Seafood market further supports COVID animal origins An international collaboration between Scripps Research, University of Arizona, CNRS and others provides additional analysis of how the pandemic began.
September 19, 2024
Press release courtesy of Cell Press, with light edits for stylistic purposes.
LA JOLLA, CA A new international collaborative study from scientists at Scripps Research, the University of Arizona, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and others provides a list of the wildlife species present at the market from which SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, most likely arose in late 2019. The study is based on a new analysis of metatranscriptomic data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data come from more than 800 samples collected in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale market beginning on January 1, 2020, and from viral genomes reported from early COVID-19 patients. The research appears September 19 in the journal Cell.
This is one of the most important datasets that exists on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, says co-corresponding author Florence D barre, PhD, of CNRS. We're extremely grateful that the data exist and were shared.
This paper adds another layer to the accumulating evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced into the market in mid- to late November 2019, which sparked the pandemic, says co-corresponding author Kristian Andersen, PhD, professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research.
We have analyzed, in new and rigorous ways, the vitally important data that the Chinese CDC team collected, says co-corresponding author Michael Worobey, DPhil, of the University of Arizona. This is an authoritative analysis of that data and how it fits in with the rest of the huge body of evidence we have about how the pandemic started.
On January 1, 2020, after the animals were removed and just hours after the market was closed, investigators from the Chinese CDC went to the market to collect samples. They swabbed the floors, walls, and other surfaces of the stalls; they came back days later to focus on surfaces in stalls selling wildlife, such as a cage and carts used to move animals, and then also collected samples from the drains and sewers.
They performed metatranscriptomic sequencing of the samples, a technique aiming to obtain all RNA sequences (and which can pick up DNA as well) from all organisms present in the samples viruses, bacteria, plants, animals, humans. The Chinese CDC team, led by Liu Jun, published their data and results in 2023 in the journal Nature. However, the article left unresolved the exact identities of the animal species found in the data that could represent plausible intermediate hosts. The Chinese CDC shared their sequencing data on public and open repositories.
According to the latest analysis of these data being published in Cell, SARS-CoV-2 was present in some of the same stalls as wildlife sold at the market including raccoon dogs (small fox-like animals with markings similar to raccoons) and civet cats (small carnivorous mammals related to mongooses and hyenas). In some cases, genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and these animals was even found on the same swabs. The exact animal species were identified by genotyping their mitochondrial genomes in the samples.
Many of the key animal species had been cleared out before the Chinese CDC teams arrived, so we can't have direct proof that the animals were infected, D barre says. We are seeing the DNA and RNA ghosts of these animals in the environmental samples, and some are in stalls where SARS-CoV-2 was found too. This is what you would expect under a scenario in which there were infected animals in the market.
These are the same sorts of animals that we know facilitated the original SARS coronavirus jumping into humans in 2002, Worobey adds. This is the most risky thing we can do take wild animals that are teeming with viruses and then play with fire by bringing them into contact with humans living in the heart of big cities, whose population densities make it easy for these viruses to take hold.
The international team also performed evolutionary analysis of the earliest viral genomes reported in the pandemic, including these environmental sequences, and inferred the most likely progenitor genotypes of the virus that infected humans and led to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results imply that there were very few, if any, humans infected prior to the market outbreak. This is consistent with spillovers from animals to humans within the market. There may also have been spillovers of limited impact in the immediate upstream animal trade.
In this paper, we show that the sequences linked to the market are consistent with a market emergence, D barre says. The main diversity of SARS-CoV-2 was in the market from the very beginning.
The new study landed on a short list of animal species in the wet market found co-occurring or close to viral samples that could represent the most likely intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2. The common raccoon dog, a species susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 and that carried SARS-CoV in 2003, was found to be the most genetically abundant animal in the samples from market wildlife stalls. Genetic material from masked palm civets, which were also associated with the earlier outbreak of SARS-CoV, was also found in a stall with SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Other species such as the Hoary bamboo rat and Malayan porcupines were also found to be present in SARS-CoV-2-positive samples, as well as a multitude of other species.
While the data cannot prove whether one or more of these animals may have been infected, the team's analyses provide a clear list of the spec
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
20/01/2026
SVG Sit-Down: BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on the Future of Cloud, Remote, Softwar...
20/01/2026
From architecture to reality: What CBC's Milano Cortina 2026 workflows tell ...
20/01/2026
Milano Cortina 2026: Making the Winter Olympics and Paralympics workflow work fo...
20/01/2026
Countdown to Milano Cortina 2026: SVG Launches SportsTechLive Blog in Lead-up to...
20/01/2026
Grand finale: Rally Saudi Arabia pushes WRC to make the most of cameras and dron...
20/01/2026
State of Change: What's Happening in the Remote-Production Business?NEP Group, Game Creek Video, Dome Productions, Mobile TV Group, Program Productions exec...
20/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: A Look Back at SVG's Complete CoverageGo behind the scenes with ESPN, Game Creek Video, Van Wagner, and the champion Indiana...
20/01/2026
The Gotham, Film Independent, and Creators Coalition on AI Join Alliance
by Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director, Sundance Institute's Artist Programs...
20/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
20/01/2026
December, the first month of winter and the holiday season, has traditionally encouraged families to spend time together in front of the television. During this...
20/01/2026
During December, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.3%, an increase of 0.1 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YUMI TV,...
20/01/2026
Christmas Day is Most-Streamed Day Ever with 55 Billion Viewing Minutes, led by...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Disguise and ASB GlassFloor today announced a strategic partnership that turns the arena floor into a fully customizable interactive digital surface. This will ...
20/01/2026
Last summer, ITV celebrated the tenth anniversary of its popular reality dating show, Love Island. To ramp up the excitement of series 12 (launched in the UK on...
20/01/2026
Berklee's Mark Ethier Named One of SPIN's Most Influential People in Mus...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Emergent, a provider of AI-powered media production solutions, today announced its presence at ISE 2026 in Barcelona, taking place February 3 6, where it will u...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery Amend Agreement to All-Cash Transaction
Business
20 January 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
All-C...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Now You Can Play a Role in Our Live Events With Real-Time Voting
Elmar Nubbemeyer
VP, Member Product
Product
20 January 2026
Global
Link...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Indiana Football's Digital Crew Generate Hyp...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Van Wagner Relies on Experience for Indiana-Miam...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Game Creek Video Fields Premiere IP Compound for...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: For a Slew of Studio Shows, ESPN Turns Hard Rock...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: ESPN's Sweeping Live Game Production Leverag...
19/01/2026
The new L3Harris NOVA binocular system is the every-soldier goggle' - and the beginning of a new era for night-vison capability....
19/01/2026
The Majority of Those Surveyed Prefer to Buy Brands Who Advertise in Content Tha...
19/01/2026
Back to All News
Straight to Hell' Sets April 27 Premiere: Teaser Trailer,...
19/01/2026
New Workflow Enhancements for All Broadcast Pix Systems, Plus 4-Channel ISO Recording for Hybrid and Roadie Tyngsboro, Mass. - January 2025 - Broadcast Pix ann...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Announces the Series Nights & Days, Directed by Kamila...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
17/01/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is helping to elevate the Google Meet experience with the introduction of an integration with Taurus UCX. Th...
17/01/2026
Clear-Com announced a strategic partnership with NETGEAR AV to offer four high-performance networking switches as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutio...
17/01/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, today announced a new U.S. distribution partnership wit...
17/01/2026
NUGEN Audio announces the latest evolution of MasterCheck, its industry-trusted optimization plug-in for cross-platform mastering and loudness verification. Des...
17/01/2026
BHV has announced that it will highlight its new SportsBox remote vision mixer and picture processor at ISE in Booth #4H900 marking its official introduction in...
17/01/2026
Clear-Com will return to ISE 2026 to demonstrate its latest intercom solutions for broadcast, live production, and AV professionals. Exhibiting at Stand #4P700...
17/01/2026
Grass Valley, a leading provider in live production solutions, will exhibit at ISE 2026 in Barcelona from February 3 6, presenting its vision for how modern Bro...
17/01/2026
Utelogy Corporation, the global leader in connected workplace management, monitoring, control, automation and analytics closes out a record-breaking 2025. The c...
Genetic tracing at the Huanan Seafood market further supports COVID animal origins An international collaboration between Scripps Research, University of Arizona, CNRS and others provides additional analysis of how the pandemic began. 
