The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 facilitates viral entry into the target cell exploiting the Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. The ACE2 gene is highly conserved in mammalian animals at the DNA and peptide level, which makes them the potential hosts for SARS-CoV-2.
A recent study found that the ACE2 gene was discovered in 12 common mammals. Among these 12 mammals, humans are the main host of SARS-CoV-2; mice are commonly used experimental animal models; bats and pangolins are suspected to be the intermediate host; cats, dogs, ferrets, and hamsters are pets; cattle, pigs, rabbits, and goats are common livestock. [1] Besides these 12 mammals, paguma larvata, an important host of SARS, also has ACE2 expression [2].
At ACROBiosystems, we verified the binding activity between different species of ACE2 and S1 or S RBD proteins using ELISA/SPR/BLI. Check out which one will be the suitable animal model.
We investigated the binding activity between the ACE2 of human, cynomolgus or paguma larvata, and the S RBD of SARS-CoV-2 using BLI. The binding activities of human and cynomolgus ACE2 to the S RBD of SARS-CoV2 are much higher than paguma larvata ACE2.
Paguma larvata is an important host of SARS. Its ACE2 receptor protein also showed a very good binding ability to the S protein of SARS-CoV-2, though not comparable to human and cynomolgus ACE2.
An SPR method was also used to investigate the binding affinity between paguma larvata ACE2 and S RBD or S1 protein of SARS and SARS-CoV-2. Based on the results, we concluded that paguma larvata ACE2 is more susceptible to SARS.