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Some research teams are focusing on the ACE2 receptor, a protein found on the surface of cells of many species. The pointed protrusions of the coronavirus allow it to bind to these receptors and enter cells, like a key in a lock.
in 2020 A group of scientists compared ACE2 receptors of hundreds of vertebrates, mostly mammals, along with those of humans, to determine which species the virus might infect. (The ACE2 receptors of birds, reptiles, fish, and amphibians are not so similar to ours as to cause concern.)
“The predictions have been very good so far,” said Harris A. Lewin, a biologist at the University of California at Davis and author of the study, in an email. Scientists have estimated, for example, that white-tailed deer are at high risk for infection.
But some predictions turned out to be completely wrong: The newspaper described the farm mink as a “very low” concern species – and then in April 2020 the virus raged through mink farms.
Indeed, ACE2 offers only a snapshot of sensitivity. “Viral infection and immunity are much more complex than a virus attaching to a cell,” Kaitlin Sawatzki, a virologist at Tufts University, said in an email.
And scientists from around 6,000 mammalian species around the world have sequenced the ACE2 receptors of just a few hundred of them, creating a biased dataset. These ranked species include the model organisms used in the experiments, other disease-carrying species, and charismatic zoo inhabitants, not necessarily the animals most likely to encounter humans.
“If a squirrel had an epidemic, they would say, ‘God, what’s wrong with us? “We haven’t even measured the basic biology of a squirrel,” he said.
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