Wuhan virologists identify new coronavirus in bats

The latest findings have been reported by a team of virologists at the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, led by Shi Zhengli, who came into prominence as “batwoman” during the pandemic for her work with bat coronaviruses and also faced allegations for her facility’s central role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.

HKU5-CoV-2, like SARS-CoV-2, belongs to a family beta coronavirus, one of the four broad types of coronaviruses, named so for crown-like protrusion on their surfaces, and can cause respiratory infection in animals and humans.

The scientists at the Wuhan Institute have now warned that just like SARS-CoV-2, the bat virus HKU5-CoV-2 contains a feature known as the furin cleavage site that helps it enter human cells via the ACE2 receptor—a protein on the surface of many cells.

As part of the scientific project, the researcher collected the HKU5-CoV-2 strain from a small subset of hundreds of Pipistrellus bats from various Chinese provinces and analysed them for their affinity to human cells.

Their experiment revealed that the virus belongs to a distinct lineage of coronaviruses that includes the one causing Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and is distantly related to SARS-CoV-2.

What really triggered the concern was the finding that the HKU5-CoV-2 strain can enter human cells by binding to the ACE2 receptor, mirroring the mechanism used by SARS-CoV-2 to infect cells, replicate, and transmit.

Structural and functional analyses indicate that HKU5-CoV-2 has a better adaptation to human ACE2 than lineage 1 HKU5-CoV. Authentic HKU5-CoV-2 infected human ACE2, expressing cell lines and human respiratory and enteric organoids, researchers noted.

Scientists in India said that while the latest discovery should not raise an alarm immediately, there may be a need to maintain surveillance for highly pathogenic zoonotic viruses.