The common ancestor of extant mammalian coronaviruses originated recently in a bat species and their diversification occurred via preferential host switches rather than through codiversification with mammals.

Hybridization probe capture is useful for discovery and surveillance of novel coronaviruses, and its unique strengths complement existing methods like amplicon sequencing and deep metagenomic sequencing.

Exploration of the phenotype space corresponding to the sequence space of viable SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein species reveals significant diversity of biophysical characteristics, nonlocal mutation effects, and functional constraints.

Phylogenetic and computational methods reveal that at least two seasonal coronaviruses are evolving adaptively in the region of the viral spike protein exposed to the human humoral immune system.

MERS-CoV infections in the Arabian Peninsula are the result of several hundred spillover events from viruses circulating in camels into the human population.

A novel, overlapping, putatively functional gene in SARS-CoV-2, ORF3d, is absent from close relatives of SARS-CoV-2 and may have contributed to the biology, emergence, or spread of the virus.

Viruses drive adaptation at the scale of the whole proteome and not only in antiviral proteins in mammalian hosts.

Experiments with hybrid viruses are illuminating how SARS-CoV-2 can escape neutralizing antibodies.

SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 is expressed in nasal olfactory epithelia, tongue keratinocytes and small intestine enterocytes, connected with the COVID-19 patient phenotypes such as anosmia and diarrhea.