Isolation and Characterization of 2019-nCoV-like Coronavirus from Malayan Pangolins

“…Our negative findings across five viral families associated with emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases in recent decades in these throat and rectal swabs indicate the absence of viral shedding, and contrast with reports of the detection of parainfluenza virus (Wang et al 2018), coronaviruses and Sendai virus (Liu et al 2019;Zhang et al 2020), and SARSr-CoVs (Lam et al 2020;Xiao et al 2020) in Sunda pangolins. Our sample size is substantial, particularly given the rarity of these animals in Malaysia-the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) as 'Critically Endangered', as a result of poaching, smuggling and habitat loss (IUCN 2018).…”

“…Our negative findings across five viral families associated with emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases in recent decades contrast with reports of the detection of parainfluenza virus (Wang et al, 2018), coronaviruses and Sendai virus (Liu et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2020), and SARSr-CoVs (Lam et al, 2020;Xiao et al, 2020) in Sunda pangolins. Our sample size is substantial, particularly given the rarity of these animals in Malaysia -the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) as 'Critically Endangered', as a result of poaching, smuggling and habitat loss (IUCN, 2018).…”

“…Protein sequence alignment analyses reveals the closest evolutionarily conservation between 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2 and pangolin S protein with 95.6% similarity and 92.1% identity while 46.8% similarity and 31.2% identity was observed between SARS-CoV-2 and bat S protein (supplementary data). This finding therefore agrees with reports indicating pangolin as a more recent ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 than bats [ 33 , 34 ] which could have arisen as a result of recombination (chimera) or interactions between pangolin-CoV-like virus with a bat-CoV-RaTG13-like virus going by the homology and subclade of SARS-CoV-2 and pangolin S genes from bat S-gene seen in this study ( Figure 2 ). Although, some computational analyses prediction of the improbability of direct binding between receptor binding domains (RBDs) in SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 in humans suggests otherwise [ 35 , 36 ], studies have shown demonstrations of cross-species interactivity through structural ( in-silico ), in-vitro and in-vivo mechanisms [ 31 , 37 - 39 ].…”