Pangorin coronavirus can jump to humans

Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have discovered that there are important structural similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and the pangoline coronavirus. This suggests that the pangoline coronavirus can infect humans.

SARS-CoV-2 is believed to have evolved from the bat coronavirus, but its exact evolutionary path remains a mystery. There may be many undiscovered bat coronaviruses, and the differences between bat coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 make it difficult to clarify their history. Virus It may have been passed to humans via at least one other species.

In their study, Nature Communications, Scientists have identified SARS-CoV-2, the most similar bat coronavirus RaTG13 currently identified, and the peplomer protein found in coronavirus isolated from Sunda pangolin seized by authorities after being smuggled into China. I compared the structures. They found that the pangolin virus can bind to receptors from both pangolin and humans.This is different from the bat coronavirus, which could not bind effectively Human Or pangolin receptor.

Antoni Wrobel, co-author and postdoctoral training fellow at Crick’s Structural Biology of Disease Processes Laboratory, said: “By testing whether a particular virus’s peplomer can bind to different types of cell receptors, in theory, see if the virus can infect this species. “

“I’ve shown two important things here. One is that the bat virus is unlikely to infect the scale armor. The second is that the scale armor virus can infect humans. Is to have. “

The team used a cryo-Electron microscopy We will clarify in detail the structure of the peplomer protein of pangoline coronavirus, which is involved in cell binding and infection. Some parts of the pangoline virus spikes were found to be very similar to SARS-CoV-2, but others were different.

From the perspective of understanding the evolutionary path of SARS-CoV-2, this study does not confirm that this pangoline virus is part of the SARS-CoV-2 evolutionary chain. However, the findings support a variety of possible scenarios of how the coronavirus jumped from bats to humans. One possible route is that SARS-CoV-2 originated from another currently unknown bat coronavirus that could infect the scale armor and was transferred from this species to humans. Alternatively, RaTG13 or a similar bat coronavirus may have fused with another coronavirus of a different intermediate species other than Pangolin.

Donald Benton, co-lead author and postdoctoral training fellow at Crick’s Structural Biology of Disease Processes Laboratory, said: The virus passed through pangolin and infects humans. “

“But we showed it Pangolin Because the virus can infect humans, caution should be exercised against contact with this species and the termination of illegal smuggling and pangolin trade to protect against this risk. “

Steve Gamblin, Group Leader, Crick’s Structural Biology of Disease Processes Laboratory, said: “There are many unclear points about the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, but its history and seed As it passes, we understand how it works and how it continues to evolve. “

This study is based on a previous study by the Crick team, including a study published in July 2020 that discovered that the bat coronavirus RaTG13 was unable to effectively bind to human receptors.

The team continues to investigate related coronavirus spikes, including SARS-CoV-2 and other bat viruses, to better understand the mechanism of infection and evolution.