To date, seven human CoVs(Hcovs) are known.
Most Hcovs originated from bats where they are non-pathogenic.
In the past decades, seven Hcovs have been identified.
humans have been well adapted to these four Hcovs.
Before 2003, two human CoVs(Hcovs) were known to cause mild illness,
Before 2003, two human CoVs(Hcovs) were known to cause mild illness,
such as common cold.
On the contrary, Hcovs can also adapt to the intermediate host
and even establish long-term endemicity.
Hcovs that cause severe diseases in humans
and humans who developed severe HCoV diseases have been eliminated.
Hcovs have to usurp host dependency factors
and subvert host restriction factors for a successful interspecies transmission.
Thus, it is not by chance that three novel Hcovs have emerged in the past two decades.
Last but not least, the evolution of novel Hcovs is also driven by the selection pressure in their reservoir hosts.
Tracing the zoonotic origins of Hcovs provides a framework to understand the natural history,
driving force and restriction factors of species jumping.
Generally, when these Hcovs acquire the abilities to transmit efficiently and to maintain themselves continuously within humans,
they also become less virulent or pathogenic.
Particularly, we highlight and
discuss the common theme that parental viruses of Hcovs are typically non-pathogenic in their natural reservoir hosts
but become pathogenic after interspecies transmission to a new host.
Based on the difference in protein sequences, CoVs are classified into four genera(alpha-CoV, beta-CoV, gamma-CoV and delta-CoV),
among which the beta-CoV genera contains most Hcovs and is subdivided into four lineages A, B, C and D.