The Pan-SL-CoV/GD sequences may be from contamination.

Abstract

Recently, There were much hype about an alleged SARS-like coronavirus being found in samples of Malayan pangolins (Manis Javanica) possessing nearly identical RBD to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Prominent journals cite the alleged discovery to claim that pangolins may be one of a possible intermediate host for the zoonotic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans. Here, we report that all databases used to support such a claim, upon which metagenomic analysis was possible, contained unexpected reads and was in serious risk of contamination. Here we also report that the presence of unexpected reads are directly related to the presence of coronavirus reads. Finally, we deduced the actual causative agent of the death of the pangolins sampled in GuangDong 2019 where the claim of coronavirus detections was made.