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Review
. 2022 Feb 4;12(3):378.
doi: 10.3390/ani12030378.

Diversity of Coronaviruses with Particular Attention to the Interspecies Transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Awad A Shehata  1   2 , Youssef A Attia  3   4   5 , Md Tanvir Rahman  6 , Shereen Basiouni  7 , Hesham R El-Seedi  8   9 , Esam I Azhar  10 , Asmaa F Khafaga  11 , Hafez M Hafez  12
Affiliations
Review

Diversity of Coronaviruses with Particular Attention to the Interspecies Transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Awad A Shehata et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

In December 2019, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was reported in China with serious impacts on global health and economy that is still ongoing. Although interspecies transmission of coronaviruses is common and well documented, each coronavirus has a narrowly restricted host range. Coronaviruses utilize different receptors to mediate membrane fusion and replication in the cell cytoplasm. The interplay between the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of coronaviruses and their coevolution are determinants for host susceptibility. The recently emerged SARS-CoV-2 caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and has also been reported in domestic and wild animals, raising the question about the responsibility of animals in virus evolution. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic might also substantially have an impact on animal production for a long time. In the present review, we discussed the diversity of coronaviruses in animals and thus the diversity of their receptors. Moreover, the determinants of the susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 in several animals, with special reference to the current evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in animals, were highlighted. Finally, we shed light on the urgent demand for the implementation of the One Health concept as a collaborative global approach to mitigate the threat for both humans and animals.

Keywords: COVID-19; One Health; SARS-CoV-2; angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; interspecies transmission; receptors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diversity of coronaviruses. Seven human coronaviruses are known, explicitly, 229E, NL63 (α-CoVs), HKU1, OC43, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV), SARS-CoV-2 (β-CoVs), and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), adapted from the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses [10].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Catalytic function of ACE2 in renin–angiotensin system (RAS). Adapted after Bader et al. [98].
Figure 3
Figure 3
The general organization of the coronavirus S-protein. SP = signal peptide, NTD = N-terminal domain, CTD = C-terminal domain, RBD = receptor-binding domain, RBM = receptor-binding motif, FP = fusion peptide, HR1 = heptad repeat 1, HR2 = heptad repeat 2, TM = transmembrane domain (TM), CD = C-domain.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Susceptibility of different animals to SARS-CoV-2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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