5 Key Takeaways

• 1

  Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute studied spike protein structures of SARS-CoV-2, RaTG13, and pangolin-CoV.

• 2

  The pangolin-CoV spike protein is more similar to RaTG13 than to SARS-CoV-2, except for the receptor-binding domain.

• 3

  Pangolin-CoV spike proteins can bind strongly to both human and pangolin ACE2 receptors.

• 4

  RaTG13 was found to be unable to bind with either human or pangolin ACE2 receptors.

• 5

  The findings suggest that pangolin-CoV has the potential to infect humans.