Highly divergent white-tailed deer SARS-CoV-2 with potential deer-to-human transmission
Abstract
Wildlife reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 may enable viral adaptation and spillback from animals to humans. In North America, there is evidence of unsustained spillover of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), but no evidence of transmission from deer to humans. Through a biosurveillance program in Ontario, Canada we identified a new and highly divergent lineage of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer. This lineage is the most divergent SARS-CoV-2 lineage identified to date, with 76 consensus mutations (including 37 previously associated with non-human animal hosts) and signatures of considerable evolution and transmission within wildlife. Phylogenetic analysis also revealed an epidemiologically linked human case. Together, our findings represent the first clear evidence of sustained evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer and of deer-to-human transmission.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
↵b Authors jointly supervised the work
Author list updated. Some text, analyses, and figures updated (e.g., Fig. 1, Fig. 4, and Fig. 5). Supplementary material re-organized to align with updated text. Version 3 identical to Version 2 with correction to corresponding author addresses.
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