在法国发现16世纪的冠状病毒

 

概要

 

引起COVID-19的SARS-CoV-2是目前最新的冠状病毒，此外冠状病毒家族还有严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒（SARS-CoV）和中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV），它们分别在不同的时间点引发了不同规模的大流行。

而在最近发表在《国际传染病杂志》上的一项研究中，研究人员对从法国Baume-Les-Messieurs村的圣皮埃尔修道院挖掘出来的骨架的牙髓样本进行了古生物学测试。他们在一具骨架的牙髓样本中发现了16世纪的一种古老的冠状病毒的氨基酸证据。这具骨架为学界了解人类冠状病毒（HCoV）的古老性提供了另一个机会。分析结果显示，牙髓样本含有三个肽序列，共36个氨基酸，这表明存在冠状病毒。

该样本来自16世纪，古人类学测试分析表明，牙髓样本的主人在30岁以后死亡。从同一个场地挖出的其他骨骼中获得的样本没有检测出冠状病毒阳性抗体。然而，由于缺乏病理数据，很难确定这种冠状病毒是否造成了骨架主人的严重疾病或死亡。

此外，对挖掘现场的其他动物证据的分析表明，这些人与猪、牛、鹿、家禽和狗等动物有密切的互动，这些动物被认为是可以感染人类的冠状病毒的携带者。

 

Discovery of 16th century coronavirus in France

 

In a recent study published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers conducted paleoserological tests on dental pulp samples of skeletons excavated from the Abbey Saint-Pierre in the village of Baume-Les-Messieurs in France. They uncovered amino acid evidence of an ancient betacoronavirus from the 16th century.

 

Study: An ancient coronavirus from individuals in France, circa 16th century. Image Credit: creativeneko / Shutterstock

 

Background

 

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the latest in the line of several coronaviruses that triggered epidemics at various points in time and caused mortality, albeit not at the mortality scale associated with COVID-19. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) occurred in 2002–2003 and 2012–2020, respectively, claiming over 700 and 800 lives.

 

Coronaviruses have been detected in upper respiratory tract cell culture samples from the 1960s, and several studies have uncovered human-associated alpha and beta-coronaviruses and animal-associated coronaviruses that share a similar ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome containing genes to encode nucleocapsid and spike proteins. Anti-coronavirus antibodies have also been detected in five soldiers who died in France during the first world war in 1914. The skeletons excavated from the Abbey Saint-Pierre provided another opportunity to understand the antiquity of the human coronaviruses (HCoV).

 

About the study

 

In the present study, the researchers used dental pulp from the teeth and mandibles of 10 out of 12 skeletons found at the excavation site in Baume-Les-Messieurs. The skeletons were identified to be of men between the ages of 30 and 60. The collection, storage, and handling of the dental pulp samples were carried out in a facility that had not previously worked with SARS-CoV samples, ensuring that the findings were not a result of cross-contamination.

 

Radiocarbon dating was also conducted on the tooth samples from the skeletons of two individuals. The researchers ensured that the most stringent measures were followed while handling and processing the samples to ensure that the ancient samples were not contaminated with material from modern samples. Protein extraction was performed for pooled dental pulp samples from each individual to obtain a paleoserum solution, which was then used for a blot assay to detect antibodies specific to different pathogens.

 

Cell lines such as Vero E6, HCT-8, and MRCC-5 were inoculated with betacoronaviruses SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-OC43 and alphacoronavirus (HCoV-229E) to produce the specific antigens, which were further verified through reverse-transcription polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) and Western immunoblotting. These antigens, along with skim milk as a negative control and antigen from Staphylococcus aureus as a positive control, were used for the blot assays. The samples that were seropositive for antibodies against coronaviruses were processed further to detect ancient peptides using mass spectrometry and a metaproteomic approach.

 

Results

 

The results from the paleoserology and paleoproteomic analyses revealed that the dental pulp samples collected from two of the skeletons uncovered at the Abbey Saint-Pierre contained three peptide sequences comprising a total of 36 amino acids that indicated the presence of coronavirus. Furthermore, the paleoserological tests also reported an immunological response in these samples against the antigens from the present-day SARS-CoV-2 and alphacoronavirus HCoV-229E.

 

These individuals were from circa the 16th century, and paleoanthropological analysis suggested that they died after age 30. The samples obtained from the skeletons of the other eight individuals did not test positive for coronavirus antibodies. However, the lack of pathological data made it difficult to ascertain whether the coronavirus had caused severe illness or mortality in these two individuals.

 

The use of dental pulp, known to contain conserved blood elements such as immunoglobulins and harbor pathogen peptides, allowed the detection of an ancient coronavirus that does not have any known modern representatives and is very different from SARS-CoV-2 or any of the other modern human coronaviruses. Furthermore, the analysis of other faunal evidence from the excavation site indicated that these individuals interacted closely with animals such as swine, cattle, deer, poultry, and dogs, which have been thought to harbor coronaviruses that can infect humans.

 

Source:

News-Medical

Published on Mar 20 2023

 

 

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