According to the officials familiar with the intelligence, RaTG13 is not regarded as the immediate precursor of the virus behind SAR-CoV-2, the formal name for the coronavirus. “RaTG13 is significant for other reasons having to do with its potential as a backbone for the creation of a parthenogenic chimeric virus,” one official said. “It is also significant given the suspect behavior of PRC scientists regarding disclosure of information about this virus and the clouded and questionable nature of previous disclosures about its origin, genomic structure and laboratory experimentation.” Steven C. Quay, a prominent virologist who took part in a State Department study of the virus, revealed in a scientific analysis made public in January that RaTG13 “is not a pristine biological entity but shows evidence of genetic manipulation in the laboratory.”