Emerging Infectious Diseases (Dec 2020)
Detection and Characterization of Bat Sarbecovirus Phylogenetically Related to SARS-CoV-2, Japan
Abstract
Epidemiology of bat Betacoronavirus, subgenus Sarbecovirus is largely unknown, especially outside China. We detected a sarbecovirus phylogenetically related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 from Rhinolophus cornutus bats in Japan. The sarbecovirus’ spike protein specifically recognizes angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 of R. cornutus, but not humans, as an entry receptor.
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