China Reveals Important Transmission Mechanism of Bat Coronavirus, Providing Evidence for Understanding Coronavirus Invasion COVID-19
The latest research by the Institute of Pathogenic Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and other teams has found that the fecal route plays an important role in the transmission of bat coronavirus, which will provide experimental evidence for a deeper understanding of coronavirus invasion. Recently, this research result was published in the internationally renowned academic journal Cell Discovery.
The research team introduced that an increasing number of bat coronaviruses are being discovered, especially the types of bat coronaviruses that can use human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 to invade cells, which have the possibility of direct or indirect cross species transmission to humans through intermediate hosts. The study of the potential host range and cross species transmission mechanism of bat coronavirus is conducive to determining whether it has the risk of cross species transmission to humans and causing large-scale epidemics. At the same time, it is also conducive to early warning and necessary measures to control the occurrence and development of potential related infectious diseases.
This time, the Qian Chaohui team from the Institute of Pathogenic Biology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Wang Xiangxi team from the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences cooperated to carry out the host susceptibility, structure and immunology research on the S protein of two COVID-19 like bat coronaviruses, and completed systematic research on the potential host range, structure and immune characteristics of the S protein of two bat coronaviruses, BANAL-20-52 and BANAL-20-236 S, which were found in Laos in 2020 and highly homologous to COVID-19.
The research results indicate that the fecal pathway plays an important role in the transmission of bat coronavirus. The A372 mutant S protein showed a significant increase in sensitivity to proteases and quickly lost its infective activity in a simulated digestive environment of carnivorous bats, while the compact T372 exhibited good tolerance to protease digestion at pH 5.5. This indicates that stronger stability and tolerance to protease digestion may be the main reasons why T372 is retained in all bat coronaviruses in the fecal oral transmission pathway.
The research team also found that the serum of people vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine can effectively neutralize the infection of bat coronavirus. In addition, T372A mutations are more sensitive to neutralizing serum, which may be another important reason why T372 has been preserved in evolution. This research result will provide experimental evidence for a deeper understanding of coronavirus invasion, evolution, and immunogenicity.