No evidence of SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription and integration as the origin of chimeric transcripts in patient tissues

There is interest in understanding the mechanisms that underlie reports that patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remain PCR positive many weeks after initial infection. The recent paper by Zhang et al. (1) suggests a potential explanation of this phenomenon by claiming that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can integrate into the genome of infected human cells. The authors also reanalyze RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data and report that SARS-CoV-2−host chimeric reads are present in cells and patient tissues. Given the potential implications of this research on the long-term impacts of COVID-19, we feel that it’s necessary to scrutinize the evidence presented. To determine whether SARS-CoV-2 RNA might be retrotranscribed … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: r.parry{at}uq.edu.au or lachlan.coin{at}unimelb.edu.au. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1