The National Science Foundation awarded University of Idaho researchers nearly $200,000 to investigate whether animals can transmit COVID-19 and how to block the spread from animals to humans.
Paul Rowley, a virologist and assistant professor at UI, said the research examines the gateways to cells, called receptors, in animals to see which ones react to a viral agent similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, in a way which could potentially transmit the virus to humans.
Rowley said there is strong evidence that the coronaviruses which have resulted in epidemics or pandemics originated in bats. But not all of them were passed directly from bats to humans, instead using another animal as a middleman.
“That’s, of course, where the interest is,” Rowley said. “It seems to play a huge part in the emergence of these various coronaviruses. (The virus) would be spilled over from animal reservoirs to human populations.”
An example of COVID-19 passing between humans and animals occurred in mink farms in Utah, where the virus broke out among the animals shortly after many of the employees tested positive, according to reporting from Cable News Network.
Similar situations have been reported in Michigan, the Netherlands and Denmark as well. Domestic cats and ferrets have also tested positive for COVID-19, though it hasn’t been confirmed if the virus has been transmitted from these animals back to humans.
Viruses, which are bundles of genetic material, cannot replicate themselves without using a cell as a host. After a virus, like SARS-CoV-2, takes over a cell, it is able to spread and make the infected person or animal sick.
The three phases of the UI research project include compiling genealogical sequences containing a protein called ACE2, sorting through the sequences to find which animals have proteins which can “dock” with the virus and testing this shortened list of sequences in the lab to see if the virus can be transmitted to humans from the animal.
James Van Leuven, a research assistant professor at UI, gathers and organizes various animals’ genome sequences. The virus can take over the cell by docking, or connecting, with ACE2 and destroy it in the process of spreading. However, not all ACE2 proteins are able to link with COVID-19. Van Leuven said there are around 600 sequences compiled so far.
With so many sequences available, shortening the list and finding the species of animals with the protein best able to connect with the virus is an important step before testing in the lab, Rowley said. Jagdish Patel, a UI assistant professor and molecular modeling specialist, is leading the effort to narrow it down.
Patel said the team is using a process called homology modeling, which uses the human version of ACE2 as a reference to build 3D models of each animal’s receptor.
“Imagine it being like a lock and a key,” Rowley said. “Not every key will fit the lock, and we know why the key won’t fit the lock because there’s tiny changes in the shape of the key, and that’s obviously reciprocated by the lock. So, imagine that, as a model in your mind, as to why certain receptors don’t bind to (SARS-CoV-2). There’s minute changes in the receptor which prevent that lock and key interaction.”
This research, and research like it on how viruses transmit between animals and humans, will help scientists better understand how to block receptors like ACE2 to prevent future epidemics and pandemics.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5.