- The new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is a product of several coronaviruses that recombine in animal species.
- A new study suggests that hundreds of animal species may harbor multiple types of coronaviruses, meaning recombination events are more likely than previously thought.
- The authors noted that their results can help improve surveillance programs to reduce the risks of a future new coronavirus.
A new study highlights hundreds of mammal species that could contract multiple coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, and thus become sources of new coronaviruses. The research, published in Nature Communications, suggests that new coronaviruses may emerge from many more animal species than scientists have observed so far.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Humans are known to contract only seven coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2, all of which can cause serious illness or death. But coronaviruses can circulate more widely in the animal kingdom, and within it scientists have identified hundreds of unique strains.
Some animals can be infected with multiple coronaviruses at the same time. When this happens, genes from the different viruses can combine and replicate, creating a new coronavirus. This natural process is called recombination and it is what produced SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
So, in which animal species could the next new coronavirus arise through recombination?
Wardeh et al.
Predicted hosts are grouped in order (inner circle). Middle circle indicates probability of association between host and SARS-CoV-2 (gray scale indicates predicted associations with probabilities in range> 0.5 to ≤0.75. Red scale indicates predicted associations with probabilities in range> 0.75 until <0.9821. Blue to purple scale present indicates associations with probability ≥ 0.9821). Yellow bars represent number of coronaviruses (species or strains) observed to be found in each host. Blue stacked bars represent other coronaviruses predicted to be found in each host by our model. Predicted coronaviruses per host are grouped by prediction probability into three categories (from inside to outside): ≥0.9821, >0.75 to <0.9821 and >0.5 to ≤0.75.
To answer that, the researchers behind the recent study created a computer model to predict which species are most at risk of being “reservoirs” for coronaviruses. Using data from GenBank, a National Institutes of Health database, the team compared 411 coronaviruses with 876 mammalian species known to contract coronaviruses.
The model predicted that each coronavirus species can infect more than 12 mammalian host species on average. Meanwhile, the results suggested that each mammal host could contract roughly five different types of coronavirus.
In terms of recombination, some mammal species pose excessive threats. The study found that the domestic pig is at high risk because it is known to harbor many different coronaviruses.
Given the large number of predicted viral associations presented here, the pig’s close association with humans, its known reservoir status for many other zoonotic viruses, and its involvement in genetic recombination of some of these viruses, the pig is predicted to be one of the the main candidates are important hosts for recombination, ”the authors wrote.
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The study also identified species in which SARS-CoV-2 could be combined with other coronaviruses. These include the little Asiatic yellow bat, the common hedgehog, the European rabbit, chimpanzees, the African green monkey and domestic cats (already known to contract SARS-CoV-2, although there is no evidence that cats or other pets have the new coronavirus for humans).
Also included on that list was the dromedary camel, a “known host of multiple coronaviruses and the primary pathway for MERS-CoV transmission to humans.” It would be of particular concern if MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 recombine, since the former is very deadly and the latter highly contagious.
Improved surveillance programs
Still, many factors must align for coronaviruses to fuse and generate a new coronavirus, and just because an animal is vulnerable to multiple viruses doesn’t mean those viruses will recombine. But the team behind the study noted that scientists likely underestimated the number of animals that could generate new coronaviruses, and that the results could help inform surveillance programs for high-risk species.
“Such information could help inform prevention and mitigation strategies and provide a vital early warning system for future new coronaviruses,” the authors wrote.
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