Missing link in coronavirus jump from bats to humans could be pangolins, not snakes

(American Chemical Society) As scientists scramble to learn more about the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, two recent studies of the virus' genome reached controversial conclusions: namely, that snakes are intermediate hosts of the new virus, and that a key coronavirus protein shares 'uncanny similarities' with an HIV-1 protein. Now, a study in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research refutes both ideas and suggests that scaly, anteater-like animals called pangolins are the missing link for SARS-CoV-2 transmission between bats and humans.
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news