New Jersey: According to new research, mouse ancestors may have been infected with Koronavirus such as SARS repeatedly, which has made them form resistance to pathogens.
This means that they tend to be asymptomatic carriers from Koronavirus such as SARS.
Carried out by Sean King and Mona Singh from Princeton University, this study was published in the ‘Ploc Computational Biology Journal’.
SARS-COV-2, a virus that causes Covid-19 infection, comes from zoonosis – it soars from non-human animals to humans.
Previous research shows that Chinese Horseshoe bats are a number of viruses such as SARS and tolerate these viruses without extreme symptoms.
Identifying other animals that have adapted the mechanism of tolerance to Koronavirus is important for awareness of the potential of viral reservoir which can spread new pathogens to humans.
In new research, King and Singh conducted an analysis of evolution, across mammalian species, from Ace2 receptors, which were used by the SARS virus to get into mammalian cells.
Primates have a very conservative amino acid sequence at the location of the Ace2 receptor that is known to bind the SARS virus.
However, mice have greater diversity – and the level of accelerated evolution – at these points.
Overall, the results show that infections such as SARS have not become drivers of evolution in the history of primates, but that some rat species may have been exposed to koronavirus infections such as repetitive SARS for considerable evolution period.
“Our study shows that mouse ancestors may have repeated infections with Koronavirus such as SARS and have obtained several forms of tolerance or resistance to Koronavirus such as SARS as a result of this infection,” the authors said.
“This raises the possibility of tempting that some species of modern rodents can be asymptomatic carriers from Koronavirus such as SARS, including those who may not be found,” added the authors.