A bat MERS-like coronavirus circulates in pangolins and utilizes human DPP4 and host proteases for cell entry

Continuous surveillance and viral discovery in animals and humans are a core component of a one-health approach to address recent viral reverse zoonoses

“…18 However, in contrast to MERS-CoV, MjHKU4r-CoV-1 only induced mild to moderate lung pathology in hDPP4-Tg mice, suggesting it is not highly pathogenic. 18…”

“…It uses human DPP4 as a receptor and bears a furin cleavage site that potentially broadens its host range; it is infectious in human organs and transgenic animals, suggesting that it might jump from pangolins to humans and cause disease. 18 It has also been demonstrated that infection by MjHKU4r-CoV-1 can be mediated by DPP4 orthologs from pigs, goats, cats, rabbits, macaques, sheep, camels, marmosets, and cattle, indicating a wide host infection spectrum similar to that of MERS-CoV in terms of receptor usage. 18 The study by Chen et al 18 provided a novel insight that game animals such as pangolins could be more human-threatening reservoir hosts than bats because they are in closer contact with humans and carry more human-adapted CoVs.…”

“…18 It has also been demonstrated that infection by MjHKU4r-CoV-1 can be mediated by DPP4 orthologs from pigs, goats, cats, rabbits, macaques, sheep, camels, marmosets, and cattle, indicating a wide host infection spectrum similar to that of MERS-CoV in terms of receptor usage. 18 The study by Chen et al 18 provided a novel insight that game animals such as pangolins could be more human-threatening reservoir hosts than bats because they are in closer contact with humans and carry more human-adapted CoVs. 18 However, in contrast to MERS-CoV, MjHKU4r-CoV-1 only induced mild to moderate lung pathology in hDPP4-Tg mice, suggesting it is not highly pathogenic.…”

“…In the Betacoronavirus genus, a novel preemergent bat MERS-like coronavirus similar to HKU4-CoV named Manis javanica HKU4-related coronavirus (MjHKU4r-CoV) has been identified circulating in Malayan pangolins. 18 MjHKU4r-CoV-1 replicates in human cell lines Caco-2 and Huh-7. It uses human DPP4 as a receptor and bears a furin cleavage site that potentially broadens its host range; it is infectious in human organs and transgenic animals, suggesting that it might jump from pangolins to humans and cause disease.…”

“…18 The study by Chen et al 18 provided a novel insight that game animals such as pangolins could be more human-threatening reservoir hosts than bats because they are in closer contact with humans and carry more human-adapted CoVs. 18 However, in contrast to MERS-CoV, MjHKU4r-CoV-1 only induced mild to moderate lung pathology in hDPP4-Tg mice, suggesting it is not highly pathogenic. 18…”