New putative animal reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 in Italian fauna: A bioinformatic approach.

ABSTRACT: SARS-CoV-2 is a virus belonging to the betacoronavirus family, causing fatal respiratory disease in humans, which became pandemic in 2020. Italy is one of the most affected countries by COVID-19, particularly in the northern regions. Several studies consider COVID-19 a zoonotic disease and, since Italy is the repository of a high biodiversity, SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals can be considered as a reservoir of the virus or favor the spreading between animals and humans. In this work, we analyzed the amino acid sequences of ACE2 protein of the most common domestic and wild animals present in Italy. Among the latter, we focused on ACE2 of the Chiroptera species present in Italy to identify the primary reservoir in this region. First, we reproduced in silico the Chiroptera ACE2/viral s

SUBMITTER: Buonocore M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7643666 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature