The “next covid-19″… from mice! | LebanonFiles
Amman Today
publish date 2021-11-19 11:56:04
A study has warned that rodents may be carriers of SARS-like viruses without symptoms, which means that the “next Covid-19” may come from mice.
Researchers from Princeton University conducted a genetic analysis of different types of mammals, specifically studying the receptors to which SARS viruses bind.
They found evidence that some species of rodents in the past were repeatedly exposed to SARS-like coronaviruses, which likely led them to develop some level of resistance.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 infection is considered ‘zoonotic’, which means it jumped from an animal to humans.
Previous research has shown that Chinese horseshoe bats can host many SARS-like diseases without showing severe symptoms.
Identification of animals that might have similar protection against such infections – and thus could serve as viral reservoirs – is vital to preventing future epidemics.
The study was conducted by molecular biologist Sean King and computer scientist, Mona Singh, of Princeton University, New Jersey.
“Our study indicates that ancestral rodents may have been re-infected with SARS-like coronaviruses,” the duo wrote in their paper.
They added that this likely allowed her to obtain “a kind of resistance to SARS-like coronaviruses as a result of this infection.” This raises the impressive possibility that some modern rodent species may be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-like coronaviruses — including those that may not yet be discovered.
In their paper, Drs King and Singh studied the so-called ACE2 receptors that SARS viruses use to enter mammalian cells – a characteristic of the evolution of the receptors across different mammalian species.
The team found that primates and other mammals not already known to be SARS hosts tend to have little evidence of prior adaptation at the ACE2 receptor, which makes us today vulnerable to symptoms of the disease.
However, among rodents, genetic analysis of the duo revealed a pattern of rapid evolution of the ACE2-binding interface—evidence through greater diversity in the amino acid sequences encoding the receptor.
This suggests that some species of rodents were likely exposed to SARS-like coronaviruses repeatedly over the course of their evolution, and as a result, may have acquired some form of adaptation to these types of infections.
Continuing to explore adaptations in animal hosts of coronaviruses will be important to understanding which animals may have adapted tolerance mechanisms through ancient exposure, and may be carriers of SARS-like viruses.
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