RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 North American deer mice are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.07.25.221291
DO 10.1101/2020.07.25.221291
A1 Bryan D. Griffin
A1 Mable Chan
A1 Nikesh Tailor
A1 Emelissa J. Mendoza
A1 Anders Leung
A1 Bryce M. Warner
A1 Ana T. Duggan
A1 Estella Moffat
A1 Shihua He
A1 Lauren Garnett
A1 Kaylie N. Tran
A1 Logan Banadyga
A1 Alixandra Albietz
A1 Kevin Tierney
A1 Jonathan Audet
A1 Alexander Bello
A1 Robert Vendramelli
A1 Amrit S. Boese
A1 Lisa Fernando
A1 L. Robbin Lindsay
A1 Claire M. Jardine
A1 Heidi Wood
A1 Guillaume Poliquin
A1 James E. Strong
A1 Michael Drebot
A1 David Safronetz
A1 Carissa Embury-Hyatt
A1 Darwyn Kobasa
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/26/2020.07.25.221291.abstract
AB The zoonotic spillover of the pandemic SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from an animal reservoir, currently presumed to be the Chinese horseshoe bat, into a naïve human population has rapidly resulted in a significant global public health emergency. Worldwide circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in humans raises the theoretical risk of reverse zoonosis events with wildlife, reintroductions of SARS-CoV-2 into permissive non-domesticated animals, potentially seeding new host reservoir species and geographic regions in which bat SARS-like coronaviruses have not historically been endemic. Here we report that North American deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and some closely related members of the Cricetidae family of rodents possess key amino acid residues within the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor known to confer SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding. Peromyscus rodent species are widely distributed across North America and are the primary host reservoirs of several emerging pathogens that repeatedly spill over into humans including Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, deer tick virus, and Sin Nombre orthohantavirus, the causative agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). We demonstrate that adult deer mice are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection following intranasal exposure to a human isolate, resulting in viral replication in the upper and lower respiratory tract with little or no signs of disease. Further, shed infectious virus is detectable in nasal washes, oropharyngeal and rectal swabs, and viral RNA is detectable in feces and occasionally urine. We further show that deer mice are capable of transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to naïve deer mice through direct contact. The extent to which these observations may translate to wild deer mouse populations remains unclear, and the risk of reverse zoonosis and/or the potential for the establishment of Peromyscus rodents as a North American reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 is unknown. Nevertheless, efforts to monitor wild, peri-domestic Peromyscus rodent populations are likely warranted as the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic progresses.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.