Understanding how bat coronaviruses circulate in wildlife, including bats in nature, can help assess the risks of cross-species transmission of potentially p...

After the spread of SARS-CoV-2 JN.1, its subvariants, such as KP.3 (JN.1.11.1.3)1 and KP.3.1.1 (JN.1.11.1.3.1.1),2 and XEC (a recombinant lineage of two JN.1 subvariants),3 emerged and rapidly spread ...

The University of Tokyo. (Mainichi) TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The University of Tokyo said Monday it is considering temporarily accepting international students from Harvard University if they are affected ...

Three studies recently published in Cell reveal distinct ACE2 binding interactions across the merbecoviruses, uncovering how HKU5 can use ACE2s of many non-human hosts and identifying a novel HKU5 lin...

The spike protein of many sarbecoviruses binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and facilitates viral entry. The diversification of the sarbecovirus spike gene and the mammalian ACE2 gene suggests that sarbecoviruses and their hosts have co-evolved, and the genetic diversity in these genes affects the host tropism of sarbecoviruses. Better comprehending the evolutionary potential of sarbecoviruses can lead to preparedness for the next pandemic. However, the host tropism of sarbecoviruses is not fully understood. Here, we performed round-robin pseudovirus infection assays using 53 sarbecoviruses and ACE2s from 17 mammals to elucidate the ACE2 tropism of sarbecoviruses in natural hosts, potential intermediate hosts and humans. We determined the factors responsible for the ACE2 tropism of sarbecoviruses through structural, phylogenetic analyses, and infection experiments, revealing which substitutions can expand the host range of sarbecoviruses. These results highlight the mechanisms modulating host tropism throughout sarbecovirus evolution. ### Competing Interest Statement Spyros Lytras has received consulting fees from EcoHealth Alliance. Jumpei Ito has consulting fees from Moderna Japan Co., Ltd. Kei Sato has consulting fees from Moderna Japan Co., Ltd. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and honoraria for lectures from Moderna Japan Co., Ltd. and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. The other authors declare no competing interests. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

After 150,000 articles and 17 million genome sequences, what has science taught us about SARS-CoV-2?

After the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 (BA.2.86.1.1) variant,1 several descendant lineages of JN.1, including KP.2 (JN.1.11.1.2),2 KP.3 (JN.1.11.1.3),2 and KP.3.1.1 (JN.1.11.1.3.1.1),3 have eme...