"Bat-Pangolin Hybrid Virus... Triggered the COVID-19 Pandemic"

Duke University Research Team Announcement
"Expressed from Bats, Gained Human Infectivity via Intermediate Host Pangolins"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] A study has revealed that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) originated from bats and acquired the ability to infect humans by passing through an intermediate host, the pangolin.

A joint research team led by Professor Peng Gao of Duke University Medical Center in the United States announced on the 1st in the international journal Science Advances that "genetic analysis shows that the virus closest to COVID-19 is the bat coronavirus, but it is estimated that the ability to penetrate human cells was acquired by exchanging important gene segments with the pangolin coronavirus." Although a research team from South China Agricultural University proposed in February that pangolins are potential intermediate hosts transmitting the COVID-19 virus between bats and humans, this is the first time such findings have been cited in an international academic journal.

While the bat-origin virus has been considered the cause of COVID-19 outbreaks, experts both domestically and internationally have speculated that the virus likely passed through an intermediate host such as other wild animals before infecting humans directly. Kim Yong-gwan, a researcher at the Biosafety Research Team of the National Institute of Environmental Research under the Ministry of Environment, explained, "Coronaviruses that cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and COVID-19 all have spike proteins in the form of protrusions on their surfaces, and human cells have receptors that can bind to these spike proteins. The probability of human infection increases when the key regions of these spikes that are highly infectious attach to the receptors."

Image source=Yonhap News

The Duke University research team stated, "Although the bat coronavirus is genetically closest to the COVID-19 virus, the binding site of this coronavirus is structurally very different and cannot efficiently infect human cells," and estimated that "a hybrid formed between bat and pangolin coronaviruses, resulting in the COVID-19 virus with the ability to infect humans."

Virus experts have previously understood that during the SARS outbreak, the coronavirus present in bats was transmitted to civet cats before spreading to humans, and that MERS also involved a virus originating from bats passing through camels before infecting humans, indicating that intermediate hosts played a role as transmission links. The Duke University research team argues that the COVID-19 virus likely followed a similar process through pangolins before entering humans.

The endangered pangolin is known to be actively trafficked in some countries such as China and Southeast Asia due to the belief that it has tonic properties. Researcher Kim stated, "Clear evidence is needed to confirm whether wild pangolins were infected with the COVID-19 virus originating from bats and subsequently transmitted it to humans," adding, "The homology between strains isolated from bats and pangolins and the COVID-19 virus detected in humans must match over 99% for this research to gain credibility." Homology refers to the degree of genetic similarity between individuals of the same or different species.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.