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Arthropod Ectoparasites Have Potential to Bind SARS-CoV-2 via ACE
Coronavirus-like organisms have been previously identified in Arthropod ectoparasites (such as ticks and unfed cat flea). Yet, the question regarding the possible role of these arthropods as SARS-CoV-2 passive/biological transmission vectors is still poorly explored. In this study, we performed in s...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8073597/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33921873 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13040708 |
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author | Lam, Su Datt Ashford, Paul Díaz-Sánchez, Sandra Villar, Margarita Gortázar, Christian de la Fuente, José Orengo, Christine |
author_facet | Lam, Su Datt Ashford, Paul Díaz-Sánchez, Sandra Villar, Margarita Gortázar, Christian de la Fuente, José Orengo, Christine |
author_sort | Lam, Su Datt |
collection | PubMed |
description | Coronavirus-like organisms have been previously identified in Arthropod ectoparasites (such as ticks and unfed cat flea). Yet, the question regarding the possible role of these arthropods as SARS-CoV-2 passive/biological transmission vectors is still poorly explored. In this study, we performed in silico structural and binding energy calculations to assess the risks associated with possible ectoparasite transmission. We found sufficient similarity between ectoparasite ACE and human ACE2 protein sequences to build good quality 3D-models of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike:ACE complex to assess the impacts of ectoparasite mutations on complex stability. For several species (e.g., water flea, deer tick, body louse), our analyses showed no significant destabilisation of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike:ACE complex, suggesting these species would bind the viral Spike protein. Our structural analyses also provide structural rationale for interactions between the viral Spike and the ectoparasite ACE proteins. Although we do not have experimental evidence of infection in these ectoparasites, the predicted stability of the complex suggests this is possible, raising concerns of a possible role in passive transmission of the virus to their human hosts. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8073597 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-80735972021-04-27 Arthropod Ectoparasites Have Potential to Bind SARS-CoV-2 via ACE Lam, Su Datt Ashford, Paul Díaz-Sánchez, Sandra Villar, Margarita Gortázar, Christian de la Fuente, José Orengo, Christine Viruses Article Coronavirus-like organisms have been previously identified in Arthropod ectoparasites (such as ticks and unfed cat flea). Yet, the question regarding the possible role of these arthropods as SARS-CoV-2 passive/biological transmission vectors is still poorly explored. In this study, we performed in silico structural and binding energy calculations to assess the risks associated with possible ectoparasite transmission. We found sufficient similarity between ectoparasite ACE and human ACE2 protein sequences to build good quality 3D-models of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike:ACE complex to assess the impacts of ectoparasite mutations on complex stability. For several species (e.g., water flea, deer tick, body louse), our analyses showed no significant destabilisation of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike:ACE complex, suggesting these species would bind the viral Spike protein. Our structural analyses also provide structural rationale for interactions between the viral Spike and the ectoparasite ACE proteins. Although we do not have experimental evidence of infection in these ectoparasites, the predicted stability of the complex suggests this is possible, raising concerns of a possible role in passive transmission of the virus to their human hosts. MDPI 2021-04-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8073597/ /pubmed/33921873 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13040708 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Lam, Su Datt Ashford, Paul Díaz-Sánchez, Sandra Villar, Margarita Gortázar, Christian de la Fuente, José Orengo, Christine Arthropod Ectoparasites Have Potential to Bind SARS-CoV-2 via ACE |
title | Arthropod Ectoparasites Have Potential to Bind SARS-CoV-2 via ACE |
title_full | Arthropod Ectoparasites Have Potential to Bind SARS-CoV-2 via ACE |
title_fullStr | Arthropod Ectoparasites Have Potential to Bind SARS-CoV-2 via ACE |
title_full_unstemmed | Arthropod Ectoparasites Have Potential to Bind SARS-CoV-2 via ACE |
title_short | Arthropod Ectoparasites Have Potential to Bind SARS-CoV-2 via ACE |
title_sort | arthropod ectoparasites have potential to bind sars-cov-2 via ace |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8073597/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33921873 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13040708 |
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