History of advances in genetic engineering of viruses before COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization’s China Country Office was alerted to cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. METHODS: Due to the fact that to date, the question of the origin of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has not been resolved yet, the author analyzed the main advances in the development of genetic engineering of viruses that took place before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: The first artificial genetically modified viruses could appear in nature in the mid-1950s. The technique of nucleic acid hybridization was developed by the end-1960s. In the late 1970s, a method called the “reverse genetics” emerged to synthesize ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid molecules. In the early 1980-s, it became possible to combine the genes of different viruses and insert the genes of one virus into the genome of another virus. Since that time, the production of vector vaccines began. At present, by modern technologies one can assemble any virus based on the nucleotide sequence available in the virus database or designed by a computer as a virtual model. CONCLUSION: Scientists around the world are invited to answer the call of Neil Harrison and Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, for a thorough and independent investigation into the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Only a full understanding of the origin of the new virus can minimize the likelihood of a similar pandemic in the future.