Here, we show that Omicron lineage SARS-CoV-2 is characterized by the feature of chimera.
It was generated by genomic recombination of two early PANGO lineages of SARS-CoV-2. In the recombination event, strains with medium or high circulating intensity like SARS-CoV-2/human/USA/COR-21-434196/2021 belonging to PANGO lineage BA.1 provided the fundamental genome and served as the major parents, while the rare lineage strains like SARS-CoV-2/human/IRN/Ir-3/2019 belonging to B.35, as the minor parents, hybridized their genomic fractions into the major genomes at position 21593-23118nt.
