Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) related coronavirus in bats

Rong Geng,Peng Zhou

doi:10.1186/s44149-021-00004-w

Abstract

Three major human coronavirus disease outbreaks, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), occurred in the twenty-first century and were caused by different coronaviruses (CoVs). All these viruses are considered to have originated from bats and transmitted to humans through intermediate hosts. SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, disease agent of COVID-19, shared around 80% genomic similarity, and thus belong to SARS-related CoVs. As a natural reservoir of viruses, bats harbor numerous other SARS-related CoVs that could potentially infect humans around the world, causing SARS or COVID-19 like outbreaks in the future. In this review, we summarized the current knowledge of CoVs on geographical distribution, genetic diversity, cross-species transmission potential and possible pathogenesis in humans, aiming for a better understanding of bat SARS-related CoVs in the context of prevention and control.

Highlights

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a large family of positivesense, single-strand RNA (+ssRNA) viruses that belong to the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae in the Coronaviridae family and the order Nidovirales
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-1 outbreak lasted for 9 months and resulted in 8098 people infected with 774 deaths, and caused the first global pandemic in the twenty-first century (Rota et al 2003)
The disease agent responsible for COVID-19 was identified as a novel SARS-related CoV, SARS-CoV-2 (Zhou et al 2020)

Summary

Introduction

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a large family of positivesense, single-strand RNA (+ssRNA) viruses that belong to the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae in the Coronaviridae family and the order Nidovirales. In 2005, 2 independent groups reported the first finding of SARS-related CoVs (SARSr-CoVs) in Chinese horseshoe bats in China (Lau et al 2005; Li et al 2005). Potentials for cross-species transmission of bat SARS-related CoVs Coronavirus spike-receptor binding has been believed to be the most important constraint to infection in a new host population, and albeit protease cleavage may represent another critical barrier to zoonotic CoV infection (Menachery et al 2020).

Results

Conclusion