NeoCov        

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Context

• The World Health Organisation said that the NeoCov coronavirus, discovered by Chinese scientists, requires further study.

 

What is NeoCoV?

• NeoCoV is a bat coronavirus that was first identified in 2011.
• It was identified in a species of bats known as Neoromicia, which is where the name NeoCoV was derived from.
• Commonly known as aloe bats, this species is distributed in the Afro-Malagasy region.
• NeoCoV shares an 85% similarity to MERS-CoV in the genome sequence, making it the closest known relative of MERS-CoV.
• NeoCoV cannot interact with human receptors, implying that in its current form the virus cannot infect humans.

 

A Brief Background ·        Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to infect animals and humans. ·        They are largely categorised into four genera — alpha, beta, gamma and delta. ·        Broadly speaking, alpha and beta coronaviruses commonly infect mammals such as bats and humans, while Gamma and Delta mainly infect birds. ·        While animals, including bats, are generally considered as the reservoirs of coronaviruses, rarely spillover events could occur. It is possible for viruses that infect animals to jump to humans, a process which is known as zoonotic spillover. Many major infectious diseases, including COVID-19, is widely thought to be a result of spillover. ·        A number of human coronaviruses have been identified previously, including OC43, HKU1, 229E, and NL63 which cause mild and seasonal infections in humans and SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV which cause severe disease. SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, belongs to the genus of beta coronavirus and is in fact the 7th type of coronavirus known to infect and cause severe disease in humans.

 

The recent report

• The study reports that despite their similarity, MERS-CoV and NeoCoV use different receptors to infect cells.
• The bat coronavirus NeoCoV was found to use bat ACE2 receptors for efficiently entering cells and the interaction between NeoCoV and bat ACE2 receptors is different from what is seen in other coronaviruses that utilise ACE2.
• Although NeoCoV does not have the potential to use human ACE2 receptors and infect humans, specific mutations of NeoCoV can enhance its efficiency to interact with human ACE2 receptors.

 

ACE 2

• Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is an enzyme attached to the membrane of cells located in the intestines, kidney,
• testis, gallbladder, and heart.
• ACE2 lowers blood pressure by catalyzing the hydrolysis of angiotensin II (a vasoconstrictor peptide) into angiotensin.
• ACE2 also serves as the entry point into cells for some coronaviruses including SARS-Cov 2.

 

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