Journal
VIROLOGY JOURNAL
Volume 10, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
BMC
DOI: 10.1186/1743-422X-10-304
Keywords
MERS-CoV; Bats; Arms-race; Adaptive evolution; Emergence
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Funding
- National Research Foundation, Singapore [NRF2012NRF-CRP-001-056]
- CSIRO Office of the Chief Executive Science Leaders Award
- NHMRC Australia Fellowship
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Background: The newly emerged Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) that first appeared in Saudi Arabia during the summer of 2012 has to date (20th September 2013) caused 58 human deaths. MERS-CoV utilizes the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) host cell receptor, and analysis of the long-term interaction between virus and receptor provides key information on the evolutionary events that lead to the viral emergence. Findings: We show that bat DPP4 genes have been subject to significant adaptive evolution, suggestive of a long-term arms-race between bats and MERS related CoVs. In particular, we identify three positively selected residues in DPP4 that directly interact with the viral surface glycoprotein. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the evolutionary lineage leading to MERS-CoV may have circulated in bats for a substantial time period.
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