Summary

Please, read the following example of the HW below. I merged some of your classmates
summaries to create this file. In this way, you can improve your homework by following the
required format. It is easier to write long summaries than short summaries.
Even if your grades are above B, you should read this because there is always ways you can
improve to avoid low grades on the next HW.
Thank you!

Part 1: Label Total-1 point: (Line 1): Summary #, name, date, section
Part 2: Title Total-9 points (Line 2): Catchy Title: Make a fun title that motivates the audience to
read your summary; not the same title of the paper.
“Coronavirus: the silent infectious mutant that invaded the world”
Part 3: Summary Total-30 points (Line 3)
Summ. Section 1 – 15 points: 1. Problem (3 points): In one sentence, describe the main idea so
that the reader knows what the entire summary is about. e.g. What/why/how affects
something? 2. Why is it interesting/few studies address this issue/what is known and unknown?
(3 points) 3. Research Questions/Hypotheses (3 points): what are they trying to determine. List
the hypotheses/questions. 4. Methods (3 points): sites and what organisms/processes were
observed. Number of individuals. 5. Variables (3 points): what was recorded? E.g: the amount
of… spent; height; the number of….
(1) As mutation rates of viruses increases to adapt to a new host environment, CoVs
diversity can be shaped by the geographical distribution and species richness of their natural
reservoir. (2) It is known that the bats are natural reservoirs for different types of CoVs. Many
poor countries tend to be home to a variety of bat species and these countries are the same ones
that lack thorough studies of CoV diversity. Furthermore these countries tend to be the hotspots
for risk emergence and the drivers for CoV diversity remain unclear. This research strived to
explore global viral diversity/advance fundamental understanding of CoV biodiversity and the
potential risk factors associated with zoonotic emergence. This is interesting because it allows
one to speculate about other animals that could contribute to the zoonotic emergence, besides
bats, such as camels and because the majority of human emerging infectious diseases have
resulted from the interspecies transmission of zoonotic RNA viruses.
(3) The authors set out to answer multiple research questions/hypotheses.
1. Are bat diversity and CoV diversity correlated? They hypothesized a positive correlation.
2. How prevalent are CoVs among bats in different regions? They hypothesized an equal
distribution among various regions.
3. How common are CoVs in different bat species? They believed that at least 1 CoV will be
present in every species.

4. What ecological and evolutionary drivers contribute to CoV diversity? They hypothesized that
host switching & co-speciation will be the top 2 drivers.
(4) To test these hypotheses they implemented a large scale study that sampled
thousands of bats, rodents, primates, and humans using swab kits. They then extracted RNA,
performed PCR, and sequenced the samples. Phylogenetic analysis was performed as well as
distribution maps of the results based on sequence clusters and bat species densities. The samples
were crossed referenced with known CoVs to determine new viruses and determine evolutionary
drivers for the viruses discovered. (5) Their independent variables were the bats sampled, the
regions sampled, and the types of analysis run for the study. The dependent variables were the
type of swab kit used, the age of the bat sampled, and the sex of the bat sampled.
Summ. Section 2 – 10 points: 6. Results: Significant? Link results to listed questions and
hypotheses (5 points) 7. Conclude by linking results to the problem that you described in the
first sentence (5 points)
(6) Their results showed that viral and bat diversity had a significant positive correlation
and discovered 100 new CoVs in the process. They determined that host switching was the main
main evolutionary mechanism involved with co-speciation coming in second. 27 bat species
were found to have a CoV with the average number of CoVs per species being 2.67. They were
also able to predict the distribution of unknown CoVs based on bat populations. These results
answer all of the research questions posed and the only hypothesize proved wrong was the
distribution of CoVs among bat populations in different regions. Latin America seemed to have a
reduced number of CoVs compared to Africa and Asia. (7) To circle back to the main problem
regarding a lack of knowledge on global CoV diversity they concluded that: it is driven by host
ecology, more viruses will be found in regions with higher bat diversity, CoV diversity splits into
three regions, and CoVs have adapted with bat families.
Summ. Section 3 – 5 points: 8. Contribution of research/findings to bigger problems. How does
the study/result contribute to other research/problems related to the field (2 points) 9.
Application of research/findings to benefit society. Give an example of activity that can be
affected by this study. Think of business, an agricultural practice, policy, law, aesthetic value. (3
points)
(8) Scientific knowledge has been extended as a result of the study since the outcome
showed that patterns of coronavirus diversity correlate with those of bat diversity. The study
contributes to bigger ecological problems, because it can aid scientists in studying the diversity
of coronavirus of other animals that can serve as intermediates of transmission between bats ad
humans. This investigation today in the pandemic CoVID-19 cases around the globe because the
genetic sequence will already be known and can speed up the vaccine development process. (9)
This in turn can benefit society, because understanding how and to which regions and animals
the virus is found and vaccines can strengthen the immune system to avoid spreading