Are pangolins the intermediate host of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)?

Ping Liu,Jinping Chen,Fanghui Hou,Jing-Zhe Jiang,Jiejian Zou,Xiu-Feng Wan,Jing Chen,Xiaohu Wang,Jiabin Zhou,Linmiao Li,Yan Hua,Stanley Perlman

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1008421

Abstract

The outbreak of a novel corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the city of Wuhan, China has resulted in more than 1.7 million laboratory confirmed cases all over the world. Recent studies showed that SARS-CoV-2 was likely originated from bats, but its intermediate hosts are still largely unknown. In this study, we assembled the complete genome of a coronavirus identified in 3 sick Malayan pangolins. The molecular and phylogenetic analyses showed that this pangolin coronavirus (pangolin-CoV-2020) is genetically related to the SARS-CoV-2 as well as a group of bat coronaviruses but do not support the SARS-CoV-2 emerged directly from the pangolin-CoV-2020. Our study suggests that pangolins are natural hosts of Betacoronaviruses. Large surveillance of coronaviruses in pangolins could improve our understanding of the spectrum of coronaviruses in pangolins. In addition to conservation of wildlife, minimizing the exposures of humans to wildlife will be important to reduce the spillover risks of coronaviruses from wild animals to humans.

Highlights

In December 2019, there was an outbreak of pneumonia with an unknown cause in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, with an epidemiological link to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a local live animal and seafood market
In March and July of 2019, we detected Betacoronaviruses in three individuals from two sets of smuggled Malayan pangolins (Manis javanica) (n = 27) that were intercepted by Guangdong customs [10]
We assembled the genomes of coronaviruses identified in sick pangolins and our results showed that pangolin-CoV-2020 is genetically associated with both SARS-CoV-2 and a group of bat coronaviruses

Summary

Introduction

In December 2019, there was an outbreak of pneumonia with an unknown cause in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, with an epidemiological link to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a local live animal and seafood market. Through deep sequencing on the lower respiratory tract samples of patients, a novel coronavirus named the 2019 novel coronavirus was identified [1], the name of which was determined as SARS-CoV-2. This virus has spread to all provinces across China and more than 200 additional countries. The global toll of new cases and deaths is still increasing sharply

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