Sars-Cov-2, the virus behind the Covid-19 pandemic, is “Very well adapted” for infecting human cells, is much more effective than its ability to infect the cells of other animals, such as bats. The idea was proposed by a group of Australian scientists who published a study in Scientific Reports, cited by Daily telegraph Australian.
Leading scientists associated with the Universities of Flinders (Adelaide) and La Trobe (Melbourne) have used supercomputers to create models of how the virus attacks the cell receptors (receptor proteins) of various animal species. The goal was to explore the theory that the coronavirus passed from an animal like a bat to a human, possibly through a different species (pangolin was one of the advanced hypotheses from the beginning).
However, research has shown that protein spike the new coronavirus attacked human cells more effectively than any other species tested. “Computer simulations have shown that the ability of the virus to bind to the ACE2 protein bat is weak compared to the ability to attach to human cells, ”commented one of the academic epidemiologists in charge of the study, Nikolai Petrovsky.
For this expert, this is a scientific hypothesis that “contradicts the idea that the virus was transmitted directly from bats to humans.” “Therefore, if a virus is of natural origin, it can only reach humans through an intermediate species,” the specialist believes, “however,“ this species has not yet been discovered ”.
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In the case of pangolins, whose intervention was at some point ruled out by Chinese researchers, these experts considered the results of the experiments “intriguing.” But in other cases already mentioned as possibilities, such as dogs or cats, it has not been demonstrated that the ease of infection is minimally comparable to that of humans. The study is available at this link.…
