RaTG13

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BatCoV RaTG13
Virus classification Edit this classification
(unranked): Virus
Realm: Riboviria
Kingdom: Orthornavirae
Phylum: Pisuviricota
Class: Pisoniviricetes
Order: Nidovirales
Family: Coronaviridae
Genus: Betacoronavirus
Subgenus: Sarbecovirus
Species:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus
Strain:
BatCoV RaTG13
Synonyms[1]
  • Bat coronavirus Ra4991

Bat coronavirus RaTG13 is a SARS-like

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, sharing 96.1% nucleotide identity.[6][7] However, in 2022, scientists found three closer matches in bats found 530 km south, in Feuang, Laos, designated as BANAL-52 (96.8% identity), BANAL-103 and BANAL-236.[8][9][10]

History

In spring 2012, three miners cleaning bat feces in an abandoned copper mine near the town of Tongguan in Mojiang Hani Autonomous County developed fatal pneumonia.[11] Out of concerns that the miner's cases could represent a novel disease,[12] serum samples collected from the miners were sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and tested by Shi Zhengli and her group for Ebola virus, Nipah virus, and bat SARSr-CoV Rp3. The samples tested negative.[3][13][11]

In order to uncover a possible cause of the infection, different animals (including bats, rats, and

Rhinolophus affinis (the intermediate horseshoe bat) contained a novel sequence of ribonucleic acids later identified as "RaTG13".[3][13]

In 2020, Shi and her group retested the serum samples from the miners for SARS-CoV-2. The samples tested negative.[3]

In 2020, the strain identified in the sample was renamed from the original Ra4991 (4991st sample collected from Rhinolophus affinis) to "RaTG13", to reflect the originating bat species (Ra from Rhinolophus affinis), geographic location (TG from Tongguan), and year collected (13 from 2013).[14] The name change has been considered innuendo by advocates of the lab leak theory for the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]

Virology

The sequence of RaTG13 was reconstructed from

metagenomic sampling (a common practice in environmental virology),[15] and as such, could potentially be an in-silico chimera.[16] RaTG13 has not been confirmed to exist in nature, to have been cultured or isolated in any laboratory,[12] or to be a viable human pathogen.[16] A live virus "RaTG13" has never been detected in any laboratory sample from the WIV or elsewhere.[16]

Based on its sequence, RaTG13 is a

viral accessory proteins, including ORF3a (NS3), ORF6 (NS6), ORF7a (NS7a), ORF7b (NS7b) and ORF8 (NS8).[3][17]

RaTG13 bears strong resemblance to the

host cell and causes infection. The divergence in this domain indicates that, unlike SARS-CoV-2, the RaTG13 virus might not use angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as its entry site into the cell.[18] Further, the S protein of RaTG13 virus lacks the furin cleavage motif RRAR↓S.[18]

The binding affinity between RATG13 and hACE2 is lower than that between SARS-CoV-2 RBD and hACE2.[19]

Phylogenetics

Phylogenetic tree

A phylogenetic tree based on whole-genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses is:[20][21]

SARS‑CoV‑2 related coronavirus

(

Rhinolophus cornutus, Iwate, Japan[22]

Bat

Rhinolophus pusillus, Zhoushan, Zhejiang[23]

Bat SL-ZC45, 88% to SARS-CoV-2, Rhinolophus pusillus, Zhoushan, Zhejiang[23]

Manis javanica, smuggled from Southeast Asia[24]

Pangolin SARSr-CoV-GD, 90.1% to SARS-CoV-2, Manis javanica, smuggled from Southeast Asia[25]

Bat RshSTT182, 92.6% to SARS-CoV-2,

Steung Treng, Cambodia[26]

Bat RshSTT200, 92.6% to SARS-CoV-2, Rhinolophus shameli, Steung Treng, Cambodia[26]

(Bat)

Chachoengsao, Thailand[21]

(Bat)

Rhinolophus malayanus, Mengla, Yunnan[27]

(Bat)

Xishuangbanna, Yunnan[20]

(Bat) RaTG13, 96.1% to SARS-CoV-2,

Rhinolophus affinis, Mojiang, Yunnan[28]

(Bat)

Rhinolophus malayanus, Vientiane, Laos[29]

SARS-CoV-2

SARS-CoV-1
, 79% to SARS-CoV-2

See also

References

  1. ^ "Taxonomy browser (Bat coronavirus RaTG13)". www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  2. PMID 26920708
    .
  3. ^ .
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  10. ^ "Newly Discovered Bat Viruses Give Hints to Covid's Origins". New York Times. 2021-10-14.
  11. ^
    PMID 24865545
    .
  12. ^ a b "The 'Occam's Razor Argument' Has Not Shifted in Favor of a Lab Leak". Snopes.com. Snopes. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  13. ^
    PMID 26920708
    .
  14. ^ a b "The 'Occam's Razor Argument' Has Not Shifted in Favor of a COVID Lab Leak". Snopes.com. Snopes. 16 July 2021.
  15. S2CID 245703661
    .
  16. ^ .
  17. NCBI
    . Retrieved 2020-03-28.
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