There is evidence that several smuggled Malayan pangolins carry a coronavirus strain related to the current strain of the novel coronavirus outbreak, new research has found.
Pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are the most heavily trafficked mammals in the world, poached for their meat, consumed as a luxury dish in parts of their range, with their scales used in traditional Asian medicine.
In research published in the journal Nature, the authors of the research write how the ongoing outbreak of viral pneumonia in China and beyond is associated with a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
This outbreak has been tentatively associated with a seafood market in Wuhan, China, where the sale of wild animals may be the source of zoonotic infection.
Although bats are likely reservoir hosts for SARS-CoV-2, the identity of any intermediate host that might have facilitated transfer to humans is unknown.
It reports the identification of SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses in Malayan pangolins seized in anti-smuggling operations in southern China.
Metagenomic sequencing identified pangolin-associated coronaviruses that belong to two sub-lineages of SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses, including one that exhibits strong similarity to SARS-CoV-2 in the receptor-binding domain.
The discovery of multiple lineages of pangolin coronavirus and their similarity to SARS-CoV-2 suggests that pangolins should be considered as possible hosts in the emergence of novel coronaviruses and should be removed from wet markets to prevent zoonotic transmission.
