Common British garden animals such as hedgehogs, rabbits and even the domestic cat have the potential to house new strains of coronavirus, a new study reveals.
British researchers use machine learning to predict associations between 411 coronavirus strains and 876 potential mammalian host species.
Their machine learning model integrated traits derived from genomes, such as protein structure, as well as ecological and other traits.
The results implied the common hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the domestic cat (Felis catus) ‘as predicted for new coronaviruses’.
Among the ‘highest priority’ is the smaller Asian yellow bat (Scotophilus kuhlii), a well-known coronavirus host that is common in East Asia but has not been well studied.
Experts from the University of Liverpool say the potential extent of the new generation of coronavirus in wild and domestic animals ‘is much appreciated’.
In the photo a wild European hedgehog. The potential scale of the new generation of coronavirus in wild and domestic animals may have been greatly underestimated, according to a machine learning study published in Nature Communications.
Predicting which animals could possibly be the source of a future outbreak of the coronavirus could help reduce the risk of emergence in human populations.
“Our results show the great underestimation of the potential scale of new generation of coronavirus in wild and domestic animals,” said the researchers in their article, published in Nature Communications.
“These hosts represent new targets for surveillance of new human pathogenic coronaviruses.”
There are possibly 30 times more host species than are currently known, which has the potential to house new strains of SARS-CoV-2.
Their analysis also indicates that there are at least 11 times more associations between mammalian species and coronavirus strains than empirical observations have shown so far.
In addition, they estimate that there are more than 40 times more mammalian species with four or more coronavirus strains than previously observed.
The Asian palm coffin and the larger hoofed bat are predicted to be 32 and 68 different coronaviruses, respectively.
European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Researchers say in their paper: ‘Our results also imply the common heron (Erinaceus europaeus), the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the domestic cat (Felis catus) as predicted hosts for SARS-CoV-2’.
The predicted hosts in which SARS-CoV-2 could potentially recombine with other coronaviruses contain the dromedary camel, which is the primary means of transmitting MERS-CoV to humans.
The hedgehog and rabbit have previously been confirmed as hosts for other beta-coronaviruses, although they have ‘no significant significance for human health’, the team adds.
Some mammals identified in the study as potential hosts for new coronavirus strains – such as horseshoe bats, palm clinkers and pangolins – have been linked to SARS-CoV-1, which caused the SARS outbreak in 2003, or SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
Evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 originates in horseshoe bats, although the virus is likely transmitted to humans by pangolins, a scaly mammal that is often confused with a reptile.
Meanwhile, the masked palm civet contains SARS-CoV-1, the coronavirus that killed 775 people during the 2003 epidemic and infected more than 8,000 worldwide.
New coronaviruses can emerge when two different strains infect an animal together, causing the viral genetic material to recombine.
SARS-CoV-2 appears to be a recent mixture or genetic recombination of coronaviruses.
As a result of this recombination, one of the proteins of SARS-CoV-2 enables the virus to enter the cells of humans.
Despite the massive deployment of Covid-19 vaccines, the University of Liverpool team says the recombination of other coronaviruses with SARS-CoV-2 is the ‘immediate threat to public health’.
![The research article states: 'The smallest Asian yellow bat is the highest priority [Scotophilus kuhlii, pictured], a well-known coronavirus host, common in East Asia but not well studied '](https://i0.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/02/16/16/39362292-9266263-The_research_paper_says_Amongst_the_highest_priority_is_the_less-a-28_1613491962660.jpg?resize=560%2C372&ssl=1)
The research article states: ‘The smallest Asian yellow bat is the highest priority [Scotophilus kuhlii, pictured], a well-known coronavirus host, common in East Asia, but not well studied ‘
Illustration showing SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the virus that causes Covid-19. According to experts from the University of Liverpool, there are possibly 30 times more host species than are currently known, which have the potential to house new strains of SARS-CoV-2.
This recombination can cause a virus with all the worse aspects of different viruses in the coronavirus family (coronaviridae).
“Such recombination can easily yield new viruses with the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 and additional pathogenicity or viral tropism from elsewhere in the coronaviridae,” they say.
However, there are a variety of mammalian species that are not yet associated with SARS-CoV-2 recombination, but which are predicted to host SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses.
Understanding how susceptible different mammals are to different coronaviruses can provide insights into where recombination can occur.
SARS-CoV-2 probably has its ancestral origins in a bat species, but may have reached humans through an intermediary, such as pangolins – a scaly mammal that is often confused with a reptile (photo)
The authors acknowledge that their results are based on limited data on coronavirus and virus-host association genomes, and that there are study biases for certain animal species, all of which provide uncertainty in the predictions.
However, identifying potentially high-risk species for the generation of new strains of coronavirus may help surveillance efforts.
“Such information can help inform prevention and mitigation strategies and provide an important early warning system for future new coronaviruses,” they say.
Researchers from the World Health Organization admitted earlier this month that their research mission in Wuhan would not achieve its goal of revealing how coronavirus has spread from animals to humans – meaning we will never know its origin.
Scientists in China believe SARS-CoV-2 comes from bats
According to University of Sydney professor Simon Hothe, the human COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 virus split from its closest known relative about 30 to 40 years ago – another coronavirus from a horseshoe (photo). recently
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the People’s Liberation Army and the Pasteur Institute of Shanghai have concluded that the coronavirus may be from bats.
In a statement, the team said: ‘The natural host of the Wuhan coronavirus may be bats … but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediary.
Research published in the Lancet also determined that bats were the most likely original host of the virus after samples were taken from the lungs of nine patients in Wuhan.
The team suggested that bats transmitted the disease to an ‘intermediary’ host who was at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan before being transmitted to the ‘terminal host’ people.
Authorities have blamed the food markets in Wuhan, the Chinese city in the midst of the outbreak that scientists are trying to combat.
Rodents and bats among other animals are slaughtered and sold in traditional ‘wet markets’, where tourists flock to see the ‘right’ side of the country.