New Delhi: A new bat coronavirus has been discovered by a team of Chinese researchers who say that it has potential for animal-to-human transmission. The virus, named HKU5-CoV-2, was found to use the same human receptor as SARS-CoV-2 which was responsible for Covid-19, says a report by South China Morning Post.
Renowned virologist Shi Zhengli led the study. She is known as “batwoman” due to her extensive research on bat coronaviruses. Scientists from the Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were involved in the research and the findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell.
The newly discovered bat coronavirus belongs to the merbecovirus subgenus, which includes the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus with a new lineage of the HKU5 coronavirus which was initially identified in Japanese pipistrelle bats in Hong Kong.
According to the research, the HKU5-CoV-2 virus can connect to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2) receptor. It is the same receptor used by SARS-CoV-2 to infect human cells.
“We report the discovery and isolation of a distinct lineage (lineage 2) of HKU5-CoV, which can utilise not only bat ACE2 but also human ACE2 and various mammalian ACE2 orthologs,” say the scientists.
Can it spread like Covid?
The scientists have warned that bat merbecoviruses “pose a high risk of spillover to humans, either through direct transmission or facilitated by intermediate hosts.”
HKU5-CoV-2 can bind to ACE2 receptors in multiple animal species, say the researchers adding that the virus’s efficiency in binding to human ACE2 is “significantly lower” than that of SARS-CoV-2. “The risk of HKU5-CoV-2 emergence in human populations should not be exaggerated,” noted the study.
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