After a study of 645 bats living in caves in Laos, researchers from the Institut Pasteur discovered three coronaviruses, one of which has never been analyzed.
Three coronaviruses identified
What is the origin of the Sars-Cov2 coronavirus? This question remains topical following two years of pandemic. The result of a study carried out by researchers at the Institut Pasteur might change the situation. They studied 645 bats living in caves in Laos. The scientists then discovered three coronavirus very close to Sars-Cov2. According to them, one of these coronavirus has never been analyzed. But above all, these viruses are capable of infecting human cells.
At HuffPostProfessor Marc Eloit, Head of the Pathogen Discovery Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur, explained that the three coronavirus close to Sars-Cov2 have a domain called RBD to bind to human cells. “Of the 17 functionally important amino acids in this domain, only one or two differ from those of Sars-Cov2“, he added.
Harmless pseudoviruses kept alive
Scientists synthesized the RBD protein. The latter allows the Sars-Cov2 to affect human beings. “We then grafted the entire spike onto harmless pseudoviruses that managed to enter human cells“, continued Marc Eloit. Researchers at the Institut Pasteur have kept these virus. To find out if these can cause disease, they plan to infect mice with these three coronavirus.
However, the discovery of these researchers dismisses certain bundles of clues which made it possible to go back to the famous laboratory specializing in coronavirus located in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic Covid-19. Three hypotheses were put forward by Marc Eloit, namely:
- There are many coronavirus who incubate in the bats in Asia and which have not yet been discovered,
- A death coronavirus acquired the correct mutation by circulating in humans or another terrestrial animal,
- It is an acquisition that took place in the laboratory. At the beginning of 2021, this last thesis was issued by other researchers.
> To read also: WHO: the search for the origins of Covid-19 has stalled
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