Animal Diagnostic Laboratory, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Viruses. 2023 Apr 30;15(5):1103. doi: 10.3390/v15051103.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), believed to have originated from a bat species, can infect a wide range of non-human hosts. Bats are known to harbor hundreds of coronaviruses capable of spillover into human populations. Recent studies have shown a significant variation in the susceptibility among bat species to SARS-CoV-2 infection. We show that little brown bats (LBB) express angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor and the transmembrane serine protease 2, which are accessible to and support SARS-CoV-2 binding. All-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed that LBB ACE2 formed strong electrostatic interactions with the RBD similar to human and cat ACE2 proteins. In summary, LBBs, a widely distributed North American bat species, could be at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and potentially serve as a natural reservoir. Finally, our framework, combining in vitro and in silico methods, is a useful tool to assess the SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility of bats and other animal species.
严重急性呼吸系统综合征冠状病毒 2 型（SARS-CoV-2），据信源自于蝙蝠物种，可感染范围广泛的非人类宿主。众所周知，蝙蝠身上携带有数百种可能溢出到人类群体中的冠状病毒。最近的研究表明，不同蝙蝠物种对 SARS-CoV-2 感染的易感性存在显著差异。我们发现，小棕蝠（LBB）表达血管紧张素转换酶 2 受体和跨膜丝氨酸蛋白酶 2，这些受体易于与 SARS-CoV-2 结合并支持其结合。全原子分子动力学（MD）模拟表明，LBB ACE2 与 RBD 形成了类似于人类和猫 ACE2 蛋白的强静电相互作用。总之，分布广泛的北美蝙蝠物种小棕蝠可能有感染 SARS-CoV-2 的风险，并可能成为天然宿主。最后，我们的体外和计算机模拟相结合的方法为评估蝙蝠和其他动物物种对 SARS-CoV-2 的易感性提供了有用的工具。
