Seminar description: 

Human coronaviruses (HCoVs) often have animal origins. The emergence of SARS-CoV in 2003, MERS-CoV in 2012, and SARS-CoV-2 in late-2019 confirmed that coronaviruses can cause severe-to-fatal disease in humans.

In 2017–18, a closely related, but distinct, canine coronavirus (CCoV) was identified in the nasopharyngeal swabs of children with pneumonia in Malaysia.

The virus, CCoV-HuPn-2018, was characterized as a novel canine-feline-like recombinant virus with a very unique deletion in the nucleoprotein. This deletion was similar to that found in SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 variants soon after introduction in humans, suggestive of common mechanisms of zoonotic CoV adaptation to human host. Analysis of the virus genes highlighted that while CCoV-HuPn-2018 could have infected cats and pigs in the past, it likely jumped directly from dogs into people, as the majority of the genome was highly similar to previously identified CCoVs in dogs. In our research, we aim at understanding the mechanisms of CCoV evolution and adaptation to human host.

Presented by: Dr. Anastasia Vlasova, The Ohio State University

CE Eligible: yes