Police officer hit by driver of fleeing vehicle in Toronto
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
It’s been several years since scientists suspected the original strain of COVID-19 made the jump from bats to humans, and in that time, the virus has mutated and transformed into numerous variants.
But has it changed so much that the bats scientists believe may have served as COVID-19’s original incubator are now immune to its effects?
According to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Royal Society Open Science this month, the answer is no — bats are still at risk of catching COVID-19 from us.
And the possibility of transmission across many other species is still a very real, researchers say.
The study found that bats haven’t evolved defences against COVID-19, and are capable of being infected through largely the same process as humans: the spike proteins on SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) binding to specific receptors to enter host cells.
“We were hoping to see really cool adaptive evolution happening as the virus got more used to humans and less used to bats, but we actually saw that there wasn’t a whole lot of change,” Gregory Babbitt, an associate professor with the Rochester Institute of Technology and one of the authors of the study, said in a press release.
“Because this binding site has not evolved very much, there’s really not much stopping it from transmitting from humans to bats. If you look at the phylogenetic relationships of bats to humans, we’re pretty far apart on the mammalian tree. So it suggests that there would be pretty widespread cross-species infectivity, and the literature has shown there’s been a lot of evidence of that.”
In humans, the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein attaches to a receptor known as ACE2 – the very same receptor that exists in many bats of the genus Rhinolophus, also known as horseshoe bats – on the surface of cells.
However, evolving variants have developed mutations, many within the spike protein, which better allow them to evade vaccine-based immunity in humans, as well as immunity built up from previous cases.
In order to see if any of these newer variants were no longer able to infect bats, researchers ran all current variants of concern (VOC) against computer modelling of the binding receptors in these bats. These included the original strain of COVID-19, Alpha, Beta and Delta, as well as Omicron variants BA.1, BA.2 and BA.4/BA.5, among others.
“It would be dangerous to do experiments where we reinfected bats with human viral strains, so our computer-based simulations offered a much safer alternative,” Babbitt said.
Although the study found that bats could still be infected with the virus, there were differences in the way the different variants approached the body.
Researchers found that all of the VOC were better at binding to a specific type of ACE2 receptor called hACE2, compared to bACE2, while the original strain of the virus saw no difference between which of these receptors it was capable of targeting.
Omicron variants have more mutations within their spike proteins, which affected how they attached to the receptors.
The leading theory for where SARS-CoV-2 comes from is that it jumped to humans from bats, which have served as the animal intermediary for other viruses in the past.
Although the vast majority of the transmission of COVID-19 has been human-to-human transmission, we’ve seen other animals catch the virus from humans as well during the course of the pandemic, including gorillas, tigers, minks and housecats.
It may seem irrelevant to worry about bats being able to catch new strains of COVID-19 when humans are still dealing with its ravages in our communities, but understanding the potential cross-species transmission that a virus is capable of is part of trying to battle it, researchers say.
“As a result of the virus being able to infect multiple species and also being able to jump hosts, there are concerns that the introduction and circulation of new virus strains in humans could result in modifications of transmissibility or virulence and decreased treatment and vaccine efficacy,” the study stated.
“These findings provide evidence that recent human SARS-CoV-2 variants may re-infect bats and that the extensive species diversity of bats may also have profound effects on SARS-CoV-2 evolution in the future.”
The researchers added that bats are not that genetically different from us, no different than between most pets and livestock, and that bats and other mammals “could readily become host reservoirs that further promote the evolution of persistent cross-species infectivty as well.”
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Quebec Premier François Legault reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University must be dismantled while police remain 'on the lookout for new developments.'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
The United Nations food agency warned Sudan's warring parties Friday that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don't allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.
Electric scooters (e-scooters) have been gaining popularity in the capital and this season comes with some changes and updates.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
Golf is a sign of spring and summer and a major driver for seasonal tourism, experts say.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.