The SarsCoV2 virus has three very close relatives: they live in the bats that inhabit the caves of Laos and are potentially capable of infecting humans. The discovery, published in the magazine Nature, does not worry the scientific community, but adds important elements to the reconstruction of the origin of the virus that caused the pandemic. The new coronaviruses have been identified by the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the Pasteur Institute of Laos in Vientiane.
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‘Since its emergence, numerous animal species have been studied to identify possible animal reservoirs or intermediate hosts of the virus,’ note the researchers. However, “the origin of SarsCoV2, as well as how it entered the human population, is currently unknown.”
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The new research could help solve this mystery. In fact, researchers have identified three new coronaviruses (called BANAL-52, -103 and -236) very close to SarsCoV2 in organic samples of bats captured in some limestone caves in Northern Laos. The similarity mainly concerns the Spike protein, especially that portion of the protein that binds to the ACE2 receptor, which is the main gate that the virus uses to enter the cells of our body. This makes the new viruses the closest relatives of SarsCoV2 so far identified.
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Tests carried out on human cells have shown the ability of the new viruses to enter the cell, but also a certain ability of the antibodies developed following a SarsCoV2 infection to block them. “These new viruses fill an evolutionary hole that helps us understand who the parents of SarsCoV2 are,” he explains. Marco Gerdola researcher from the University of Trieste who is not involved in the study.
The presence in nature of viruses so similar to the pandemic coronavirus, moreover, theoretically makes it possible for the virus to pass directly from bat to man, without the intermediate transit in another animal.
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Finally, says the researcher, “it is increasingly clear that numerous coronaviruses circulate in bats that we do not yet know; this underlines even more how important the study of these phenomena is to be prepared and prevent future pandemics”.
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