via University of Surrey
Evolution of Pandemic Coronavirus Outlines Path from Animals to Humans
A team of scientists studying the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic, found that it was especially well-suited to jump from animals to humans by shapeshifting as it gained the ability to infect human cells.
Conducting a genetic analysis, researchers from Duke University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Texas at El Paso and New York University confirmed that the closest relative of the virus was a coronavirus that infects bats. But that virus’s ability to infect humans was gained through exchanging a critical gene fragment from a coronavirus that infects a scaly mammal called a pangolin, which made it possible for the virus to infect humans.
The researchers report that this jump from species-to-species was the result of the virus’s ability to bind to host cells through alterations in its genetic material. By analogy, it is as if the virus retooled the key that enables it to unlock a host cell’s door — in this case a human cell. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, the “key” is a spike protein found on the surface of the virus. Coronaviruses use this protein to attach to cells and infect them.
“Very much like the original SARS that jumped from bats to civets, or MERS that went from bats to dromedary camels, and then to humans, the progenitor of this pandemic coronavirus underwent evolutionary changes in its genetic material that enabled it to eventually infect humans,” said Feng Gao, M.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Duke University School of Medicine and corresponding author of the study publishing online May 29 in the journal Sciences Advances.
Gao and colleagues said tracing the virus’s evolutionary pathway will help deter future pandemics arising from the virus and possibly guide vaccine research.
The researchers found that typical pangolin coronaviruses are too different from SARS-CoV-2 for them to have directly caused the human pandemic.
However, they do contain a receptor-binding site — a part of the spike protein necessary to bind to the cell membrane — that is important for human infection. This binding site makes it possible to affix to a cell surface protein that is abundant on human respiratory and intestinal epithelial cells, endothelial cell and kidney cells, among others.
While the viral ancestor in the bat is the most closely related coronavirus to SARS-CoV-2, its binding site is very different, and on its own cannot efficiently infect human cells.
SARS-CoV-2 appears to be a hybrid between bat and pangolin viruses to obtain the “key” necessary receptor-binding site for human infection.
“There are regions of the virus with a very high degree of similarity of amino acid sequences among divergent coronaviruses that infect humans, bats and pangolins, suggesting that these viruses are under similar host selection and may have made the ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 able to readily jump from these animals to humans,” said lead co-author Xiaojun Li from Duke.
“People had already looked at the coronavirus sequences sampled from pangolins that we discuss in our paper, however, the scientific community was still divided on whether they played a role in the evolution of SARS-CoV-2,” said study co-lead author Elena Giorgi, staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“In our study, we demonstrated that indeed SARS-CoV-2 has a rich evolutionary history that included a reshuffling of genetic material between bat and pangolin coronavirus before it acquired its ability to jump to humans,” Giorgi said.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Coronaviruses
- China denies subjecting US diplomats to COVID-19 anal testson February 25, 2021 at 1:44 am
China has denied subjecting U.S. diplomats to COVID-19 anal tests following reports from Washington that some of its personnel have been forced to undergo the procedure ...
- Federal funeral aid for Covid-19 victims stalls over scam fearson February 25, 2021 at 1:41 am
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is set to dole out cash to families of Americans who died of Covid-19, but there is potential for widespread fraud.
- US coronavirus: While Covid-19 cases have been dropping, infections are still staggeringly high. Here's what has experts worriedon February 25, 2021 at 1:29 am
A new ensemble forecast published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the daily Covid-19 death rate will slow in the coming weeks -- good news following more than a ...
- Why have India's Covid-19 cases plummeted?on February 25, 2021 at 1:26 am
Six months ago, India was in crisis. Critically ill Covid-19 patients were being turned away from hospitals. Doctors were collapsing from exhaustion. And the virus was spreading through crowded slums, ...
- The U.S. Ad Council's new national COVID-19 vaccine ad campaign goes for the soft sellon February 25, 2021 at 1:00 am
Many people are counting the hours until they can get their COVID-19 vaccination, and a much smaller number will never get the shot, but about 40 percent of Americans say they are on the fence — and ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Coronaviruses
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Coronavirus transmission from animals to humans
- NC Zoo veterinarians take steps to prevent COVID-19 transmission between animals and zoo staff, visitorson February 23, 2021 at 3:00 am
COVID-19 is not just a threat to humans but also a risk for many animals. Veterinarians with the North Carolina Zoo have a strategy to reduce the risk of infection.
- Jake Sullivan criticizes China’s transparency on COVID-19 origin but declines to stand by US intelligence on iton February 21, 2021 at 2:35 pm
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan criticized China for blocking data on the origins of COVID-19, but declined to stand by declassified U.S. intelligence released at the end of the ...
- Tourists could be spreading COVID-19 virus to gorillas by taking selfies with the animalson February 17, 2021 at 1:44 pm
Tourists could be spreading the virus causing COVID-19 to wild mountain gorillas by taking selfies with the animals without following precautions. Researchers from Oxford Brookes University examined ...
- An Antiviral Nasal Spray to Prevent COVID / Coronavirus Transmissionon February 17, 2021 at 7:31 am
A nasal antiviral created by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons blocked transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in ferrets, suggesting the nasal spray also may prevent ...
- Could a nasal spray prevent coronavirus transmission?on February 17, 2021 at 6:10 am
A nasal antiviral created by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons blocked transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in ferrets, suggesting the nasal spray also may prevent ...