Lions, tigers and kittens too: ACE2 and susceptibility to COVID-19

Sabateeshan Mathavarajah; Graham Dellaire

doi:10.1093/emph/eoaa021

Lions, tigers and kittens too: ACE2 and susceptibility to COVID-19

Evol Med Public Health. 2020 Jul 3;2020(1):109-113. doi: 10.1093/emph/eoaa021. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Sabateeshan Mathavarajah¹, Graham Dellaire^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
² Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2) has been reported to infect domesticated animals in a species-specific manner, where cats were susceptible but not dogs. Using the recently published crystal structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein complexed with the human host cell receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), we characterized the structure and evolution of ACE2 in several of these species and identify a single interacting amino acid residue conserved between human and Felidae ACE2 but not in Canidae that correlates with virus susceptibility. Using computational analyses we describe how this site likely affects ACE2 targeting by the virus. Thus, we highlight how evolution-based approaches can be used to form hypotheses and study animal transmission of such viruses in the future.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; ACE2; COVID-19; coronavirus; host; molecular evolution; pathogen.