Pangolin is a potential intermediate host for the new coronavirus, latest research results in China showed.
Researchers from organizations including the South China Agricultural University said on Friday they have found that the sequence similarity between virus strains isolated from pangolins and those currently infecting humans is as high as 99%.
Electron micrograph of a novel coronavirus isolated from pangolin:
(Photo from South China Agricultural University)
At a news conference today, Xiao Lihua, a professor at South China Agricultural University, said that the original source of the coronavirus was usually bats.
How does the virus spread from bats to people? The SARS virus passes through the intermediate host civet, and the MERS virus passes through the camel.
Existing evidence suggests that wildlife may be the source of the new coronavirus, as early cases have a history of exposure to the South China seafood market.
Seafood and animals are marketed, and new coronaviruses have also been detected in environmental samples.
When conducting virus tracing, researchers analyzed more than 1,000 metagenomic samples to identify pangolins as potential intermediate hosts for the new coronavirus.
Then through molecular biology testing, it was revealed that the positive rate of β-coronal virus in pangolin was 70%.
Through virus isolation and identification, typical coronavirus particle structures were observed under electron microscopy, and the genome of the virus was analyzed. It was found that the sequence similarity between the isolated virus strain and the currently infected human strain was as high as 99%.
Xiao Lihua said that the results of the study are conducive to blocking the animal source of the virus and avoiding the long-term transmission of the pathogen.
So, is the intermediate host unique? Shen Yongyi, a professor at South China Agricultural University, said pangolins are potential intermediate hosts, but in general, there may be multiple intermediate hosts. In addition to civet, other small predators may also amplify the virus.
This time, the research results will be released in advance, one is to keep the people away from these animals, and at the same time give other scientists some tips to let everyone dig out other potential hosts together.
The traceability of new coronaviruses has attracted much attention. On January 23, Shi Zhengli's team from Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences published an article on the bioRxiv preprinted platform. The research found that the sequence identity of the new coronavirus and a coronavirus in a bat is as high as 96%.
A research article published on January 24 by Zhu Huaiqiu's team from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the School of Engineering of Peking University suggests that bats and mink may be two potential hosts of the new coronavirus, and mink may be an intermediate host.
