ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Phenotypic and genetic characterization of MERS coronaviruses from Africa to understand their zoonotic potential.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and Molecular Epidemiology of Human Coronaviruses in Africa Prior to the SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak: A Systematic Review.Viruses · 2023Pooled it
- Article
- Somatic Evolution of a Germline Antibody Expands its Breadth to Neutralize Early SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variants.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Addressing the zoonotic threat of merbecoviruses.Nature microbiology · 2026Review
- Q1020R in the spike proteins of MERS-CoV from Arabian camels confers resistance against soluble human DPP4.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Clade C MERS-CoV camel strains vary in protease utilization during viral entry.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Operational zoonotic containment of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in Saudi Arabia: An implementation-oriented One Health genomic framework.Veterinary world · 2026Review
- AI-Guided Binding Mechanisms and Molecular Dynamics for MERS-CoV.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- A stabilized MERS-CoV spike ferritin nanoparticle vaccine elicits robust and protective neutralizing antibody responses.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The impact of clade B lineage 5 MERS coronaviruses spike mutations from 2015 to 2023 on virus entry and replication competence.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Pathogenesis and Transmissibility of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronaviruses of African Origin in Alpacas.Viruses · 2025Article
- Clade C MERS-CoV camel strains vary in protease utilization during viral entry.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Low Prevalence of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in Camel-Exposed Patients Presenting with Respiratory Symptoms in Northern Kenya.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Article
- Ongoing Evolution of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, Saudi Arabia, 2023-2024.Emerging infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Cross-neutralization ability of anti-MERS-CoV monoclonal antibodies against a variety of merbecoviruses.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Genomic Diversity and Recombination Analysis of the Spike Protein Gene from Selected Human Coronaviruses.Biology · 2024Article
- Genetic diversity and molecular epidemiology of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus in dromedaries in Ethiopia, 2017-2020.Emerging microbes & infections · 2023Article
- Evolution of increased positive charge on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein may be adaptation to human transmission.iScience · 2023Article
- Extended Viral Shedding of MERS-CoV Clade B Virus in Llamas Compared with African Clade C Strain.Emerging infectious diseases · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
28 authors at 12 institutions in 9 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Coronaviruses are pathogens of pandemic potential. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes a zoonotic respiratory disease of global public health concern, and dromedary camels are the only proven source of zoonotic infection. More than 70% of MERS-CoV-infected dromedaries are found in East, North, and West Africa, but zoonotic MERS disease is only reported from the Arabian Peninsula. We compared viral replication competence of clade A and B viruses from the Arabian Peninsula with genetically diverse clade C viruses found in East (Egypt, Kenya, and Ethiopia), North (Morocco), and West (Nigeria and Burkina Faso) Africa. Viruses from Africa had lower replication competence in ex vivo cultures of the human lung and in lungs of experimentally infected human-DPP4 (hDPP4) knockin mice. We used lentivirus pseudotypes expressing MERS-CoV spike from Saudi Arabian clade A prototype strain (EMC) or African clade C1.1 viruses and demonstrated that clade C1.1 spike was associated with reduced virus entry into the respiratory epithelial cell line Calu-3. Isogenic EMC viruses with spike protein from EMC or clade C1.1 generated by reverse genetics showed that the clade C1.1 spike was associated with reduced virus replication competence in Calu-3 cells in vitro, in ex vivo human bronchus, and in lungs of hDPP4 knockin mice in vivo. These findings may explain why zoonotic MERS disease has not been reported from Africa so far, despite exposure to and infection with MERS-CoV.
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