Host barriers to SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated by ferrets in a high-exposure domestic setting.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 118(18)2021 05 04.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33858941
ABSTRACT
Ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) are mustelids of special relevance to laboratory studies of respiratory viruses and have been shown to be susceptible to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and onward transmission. Here, we report the results of a natural experiment where 29 ferrets in one home had prolonged, direct contact and constant environmental exposure to two humans with symptomatic disease, one of whom was confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2. We observed no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from humans to ferrets based on viral and antibody assays. To better understand this discrepancy in experimental and natural infection in ferrets, we compared SARS-CoV-2 sequences from natural and experimental mustelid infections and identified two surface glycoprotein Spike (S) mutations associated with mustelids. While we found evidence that angiotensin-converting enzyme II provides a weak host barrier, one mutation only seen in ferrets is located in the novel S1/S2 cleavage site and is computationally predicted to decrease furin cleavage efficiency. These data support the idea that host factors interacting with the novel S1/S2 cleavage site may be a barrier in ferret SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and that domestic ferrets are at low risk of natural infection from currently circulating SARS-CoV-2. We propose two mechanistically grounded hypotheses for mustelid host adaptation of SARS-CoV-2, with possible effects that require additional investigation.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ferrets
/
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
/
Host Adaptation
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Mutation
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article