Genomic determinants of Furin cleavage in diverse European SARS-related bat coronaviruses

Genomic analyses of spike glycoprotein genes of European bat SARS-related coronaviruses suggest that furin cleavage sites can be acquired in the bat reservoir via conserved molecular mechanisms, supporting a natural origin of SARS-CoV-2. The furin cleavage site (FCS) in SARS-CoV-2 is unique within the Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SrC) species. We re-assessed diverse SrC from European horseshoe bats and analyzed the spike-encoding genomic region harboring the FCS in SARS-CoV-2. We reveal molecular features in SrC such as purine richness and RNA secondary structures that resemble those required for FCS acquisition in avian influenza viruses. We discuss the potential acquisition of FCS through molecular mechanisms such as nucleotide substitution, insertion, or recombination, and show that a single nucleotide exchange in two European bat-associated SrC may suffice to enable furin cleavage. Furthermore, we show that FCS occurrence is variable in bat- and rodent-borne counterparts of human coronaviruses. Our results suggest that furin cleavage sites can be acquired in SrC via conserved molecular mechanisms known in other reservoir-bound RNA viruses and thus support a natural origin of SARS-CoV-2.

Automated summary

Genomic analyses of European bat SARS-related coronaviruses suggest that furin cleavage sites can be acquired in the bat reservoir via conserved molecular mechanisms, supporting a natural origin of SARS-CoV-2. The study reveals molecular features in SrC that resemble those required for furin cleavage site acquisition in avian influenza viruses.