Chinese scientists have discovered a new coronavirus, HKU5-CoV-2, that can infect and be transmitted to humans because it can bind to the same human receptor as COVID-19, the South China Morning Post reports. The virus was initially found in the Japanese pipistrelle bat in Hong Kong and is part of the merbecovirus subgenus, which also contains the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
Shi Zhengli, ‘Batwoman’
The research, led by celebrated virologist Shi Zhengli ‘batwoman’ as she has been dubbed due to her far-reaching studies of bat coronaviruses involved researchers at the Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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“We here report the finding and isolation of a unique lineage (lineage 2) of HKU5-CoV, which not only uses bat ACE2 but also human ACE2 and many mammalian ACE2 orthologs,” wrote the scientists. This implies the new bat coronavirus is able to bind to human as well as different mammals’ ACE2 receptors, possibly paving the way for its transmission among humans, much like SARS-CoV-2.
Shi Zhengli, a scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, had been in controversy previously regarding the COVID-19 lab leak claims in 2020. She was also the first to have designed a customized coronavirus receptor for use in drug development. The modular chimeric protein receptors are useful in infectious disease research.
Can the ‘New Bat Coronavirus’ Spread Like COVID-19?
Researchers have warned that bat merbecoviruses “carry a high risk of spillover to humans, either directly or through intermediate hosts.”
