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A new interesting article has been published in Microbes Infect. 2020 Mar 18. pii: S1286-4579(20)30049-6. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2020.03.003. [Epub ahead of print] and titled:

Predicting the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) utilizing capability as the receptor of SARS-CoV-2.

Authors of this article are:

Qiu Y, Zhao YB, Wang Q, Li JY, Zhou ZJ, Liao CH, Ge XY.

A summary of the article is shown below:

SARS-CoV-2, the newly identified human coronavirus causing severe pneumonia epidemic, was probably originated from Chinese horseshoe bats. However, direct transmission of the virus from bats to humans is unlikely due to lack of direct contact, implying the existence of unknown intermediate hosts. Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the receptor of SARS-CoV-2, but only ACE2s of certain species can be utilized by SARS-CoV-2. Here, we evaluated and ranked the receptor-utilizing capability of ACE2s from various species by phylogenetic clustering and sequence alignment with the currently known ACE2s utilized by SARS-CoV-2. As a result, we predicted that SARS-CoV-2 tends to utilize ACE2s of various mammals, except murines, and some birds, such as pigeon. This prediction may help to screen the intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2.Copyright © 2020 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Check out the article’s website on Pubmed for more information:

[link-preview url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32199943 forceshot=true]

This article is a good source of information and a good way to become familiar with topics such as: SARS-CoV-2; angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2); coronavirus; phylogenetic analysis; receptor utilization.

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