First genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 recovered from an infected cat and its owner in Latin America

Abstract

An 11-year-old male mixed-breed cat, with exclusively indoor life, presented 3 cough episodes after the owners tested positive by RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2. The house is inhabited by 5 people (3 adults and 2 children), and 2 of the adults have shown mild symptoms associated with throat discomfort. The cat was vaccinated, had no history of any previous disease, and tested negative for feline coronavirus (FCoV), feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukaemia virus (FeLV). Rectal sample collected from the cat was positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR. Viral genome sequences recovered from human and cat samples showed an average 99.4% sequence identity. This is the first report of genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 recovered from a cat and its owner in Latin America.

Keywords: Brazil; SARS-CoV-2; cat; next-generation sequencing.

FIGURE 1

Genomic analysis of SARS‐CoV‐2 genomes isolated from cat or human samples. (a) Contig coverage of samples derived from cat or human. Contigs assembled are shown in red segments. Density of reads covering SARS‐CoV‐2 reference genome is shown in grey. Percentage of coronavirus reference genome covered by assembled contigs or reads are shown within parenthesis. Scale of read density is indicated within brackets. Viral sequences from human and cat showed an average 99.4% sequence identity. (b) Hierarchical clustering based on per cent identity matrix calculated from multiple alignment of Spike gene recovered from SARS‐CoV‐2 identified in cat or human samples, other mammals and feline coronavirus. Sketch of humans or cat in the clustering indicates the position of the viral species derived from each organism in the clade. NCBI nucleotide or GISAID database accessions are indicated on the heatmap