Broad Host Range of SARS-CoV-2 Predicted by Comparative and Structural Analysis of ACE2 in Vertebrates

Joana Damas; Graham M. Hughes; Kathleen C. Keough; Corrie A. Painter; Nicole S. Persky; Marco Corbo; Michael Hiller; Klaus-Peter Koepfli; Andreas R. Pfenning; Huabin Zhao; Diane P. Genereux; Ross Swofford; Katherine S. Pollard; Oliver A. Ryder; Martin T. Nweeia; Kerstin Lindblad-Toh; Emma C. Teeling; Elinor K. Karlsson; Harris A. Lewin

Rodents . Among the rodents, 7/46 species score high for ACE2 binding to SARS-CoV-2 S, with the remaining 11, 10 and 18 scoring medium , low or very low , respectively. Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus ) and the house mouse ( Mus musculus ), scored very low , consistent with infectivity studies (1, 50) . Given that wild rodent species likely come in contact with bats as well as with other predicted high risk species, we urge surveillance of high and medium binding likelihood rodents for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.16.045302 doi: bioRxiv preprint carnivores closely related to dogs (dingos, wolves and foxes) all scored low , experimental data supporting infection in dogs were inconsistent (47, 50, 59) Animal models for COVID-19 . A variety of animal models have been developed for studying SARS and MERS coronavirus infections (69) . Presently, there is a tremendous need for animal models for studying SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathogenesis, as the only species currently known to be infected and show similar symptoms of COVID-19 is rhesus macaque. Non-human primate models have proven to be highly valuable for other infectious diseases, but are expensive to maintain and numbers of experimental animals are limited. Our results provide an extended list of potential species that might be useful as animal models for SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathogenesis, including Chinese hamster and Syrian/Golden hamster (49) , and large animals maintained for biomedical and agricultural research (e.g., domesticated sheep and cattle).