 most dominant one seen globally.
This mutation appears to help more virus infect a person and for more efficient infection of cells.
The D614G virus is also almost always accompanied with three other minor mutations. The role of these changes remains unknown.
As part of the study, the experts looked at the origin of the virus in the UK and traced it back to its genetic origin.
They found its closest relative is a bat coronavirus found in China called RaTG13.
However, it is only 97 per cent identical - an enormous difference when it comes to viral genetic material.
Previous research found that it is possible SARS-CoV-2 first split from its ancestor in 1948 and has been residing in bats, who are immune, for around 70 years.
According to the experts, the difference between SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses is too large for it to have been made in a lab and deliberately released.
'The degree of divergence between SARS-CoV-2 and all other known coronaviruses is sufficient to refute the assertion that the COVID-19 pandemic arose by the deliberate or accidental release of a known virus (e.g. RaTG13) and makes the unsupported claim that SARS-CoV-2 was created artificially in a laboratory highly improbable,' the researchers explain in their paper.
Instead, the study confirms the virus jumped into humans either straight from bats or via an intermediary mammalian host.
Professor Smith said: 'There is nothing like solid evidence to bust the myths that are spread by conspiracy theorists.
'It is understandable that when a new virus emerges there will be speculation about its origins, but the pace at which the global science community has developed our understanding of the genetics of SARS-CoV-2 has been spectacular.
'That has allowed us to trace its spread and develop diagnostic tests and candidate vaccines.
'It also allows us to debunk some of the more colourful conspiracy theories.'
In the process of coming to this conclusion the authors, who are some of the UK's foremost experts, found that between February and March 2020, a total of 1,356 genetically distinct SARS-CoV-2 strains were brought into the UK from abroad.
More than a third (34 per cent) came from Spain, which was an early epicentre of the outbreak, while 14 per cent came from Italy, another major hotspot in the early days of the pandemic.
Twenty-nine per cent stemmed from France, while less than one per cent derived from travel between the UK and China.