RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Exceptional diversity and selection pressure on SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 host receptor in bats compared to other mammals
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.04.20.051656
DO 10.1101/2020.04.20.051656
A1 Hannah K. Frank
A1 David Enard
A1 Scott D. Boyd
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/04/20/2020.04.20.051656.abstract
AB Pandemics originating from pathogen transmission between animals and humans highlight the broader need to understand how natural hosts have evolved in response to emerging human pathogens and which groups may be susceptible to infection. Here, we investigate angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the host protein bound by SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. We find that the ACE2 gene is under strong selection pressure in bats, the group in which the progenitors of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 are hypothesized to have evolved, particularly in residues that contact SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. We detect positive selection in non-bat mammals in ACE2 but in a smaller proportion of branches than in bats, without enrichment of selection in residues that contact SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, we evaluate similarity between humans and other species in residues that contact SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2, revealing potential susceptible species but also highlighting the difficulties of predicting spillover events. This work increases our understanding of the relationship between mammals, particularly bats, and coronaviruses, and provides data that can be used in functional studies of how host proteins are bound by SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 strains.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.