Essay 1

Submit two paragraphs related to Boni et al. (2020). Each paragraph should be approximately 200 words (though I will not be checking). Submit your answers as text directly in the assignment.

1) The first paragraph should be a short summary of the article written in your own words. Be sure to explain the main objective/hypothesis of the article, the study approach/methods, and the main results/conclusions.

2) The second paragraph should draw connections between this paper and the textbook, your own background, or other aspects of the class in general.

Reference: Boni, M. F., P. Lemey, X. Jiang, T. T.-Y. Lam, B. W. Perry, T. A. Castoe, A. Rambaut, and D. L. Robertson. 2020. Evolutionary origins of the SARS-CoV-2 sarbecovirus lineage responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Nat Microbiol, doi: 10.1038/s41564-020-0771-4.

Essay 1 Sample Answer

Evolutionary origins of the SARS-CoV-2

The study investigated the evolutionary origins of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that has caused a global health crisis in the form of the Covid-19 disease. Based on previous studies, the current research recognized that coronaviruses are highly recombinogenic and this may have played a crucial role in their evolution. In order to address this issue, the study utilized three different methods to determine non-recombinant regions that can be used in the Bayesian estimation of divergence times for phylogenetic inference.