Pathogenicity, tissue tropism and potential vertical transmission of SARSr-CoV-2 in Malayan pangolins

  1. Xiaobing Li
  2. Kangpeng Xiao
  3. Xiaoyuan Chen
  4. Xianghui Liang
  5. Xu Zhang
  6. Zhipeng Zhang
  7. Junqiong Zhai
  8. Ruichen Wang
  9. Niu Zhou
  10. Zu-Jin Chen
  11. Renwei Su
  12. Fuqing Zhou
  13. Edward C. Holmes
  14. David M. Irwin
  15. Rui-Ai Chen
  16. Qian He
  17. Ya-Jiang Wu
  18. Chen Wang
  19. Xue-Qing Du
  20. Shi-Ming Peng
  21. Wei-Jun Xie
  22. Fen Shan
  23. Wan-Ping Li
  24. Jun-Wei Dai
  25. Xuejuan Shen
  26. Yaoyu Feng
  27. Lihua Xiao
  28. Wu Chen
  29. Yongyi Shen

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Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is having severe impact on public health at a global scale. Malayan pangolin SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus (SARSr-CoV-2) is closely related to SARS-CoV-2. We show that CT scans of virus-positive pangolins reveal bilateral ground-glass opacities in lungs in similar manner to COVID-19 patients. The virus infected multiple organs in pangolins, with the lungs being the major target. Histological expression showed that ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are co-expressed with viral RNA. Transcriptome analysis revealed an inadequate interferon response, with different dysregulated chemokines and cytokines responses in pregnant and non-pregnant adults and fetuses. Viral RNA and protein were detected in three fetuses providing evidence for vertical virus transmission. In sum, our study identifies the biological framework of SARSr-CoV-2 in pangolins, revealing striking similarities to COVID-19 in humans.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.22.164442: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    The raw sequencing datasets generated during this study are available on the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) server under the accession number PRJNA640246.
    Gene Expression Omnibus
    suggested: (Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, RRID:SCR_005012)
    Materials and Methods:
    Methods
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your data.

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.22.164442v1 on bioRxiv