Inhibition of alpha and beta interferon by coronaviruses isolated from bats in east-coast malaysia

An abstract of the research paper presented to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, in partial requirement on the course DVT 55204 一 Research Project. INHIBITION OF ALPHA AND BETA INTERFERON BY CORONAVIRUSES ISOLATED FROM BATS IN EAST-COAST MALAYSIA The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 or also known as the COVID-19 virus were identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China which had caused a pandemic affecting millions of people in the world. Bats were suggested to be the natural reservoir of this virus where the presence of zoonotic transmission helped in causing the infection in humans. Interferons are part of the human immune system which can induce antiviral activity when produced upon the recognition of viruses present in the body. In order to infect humans, the viral agents need to inhibit the production of interferons. This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the zoonotic potential of SARS-CoV like coronavirus isolated from bats in East-Coast Malaysia. Ability of SARS-CoV-like coronavirus isolates to inhibit interferon-α and interferon-β was determined by inoculating the viruses into human lung cells A549 and inhibition of the interferons by RT-PCR using specific primers of the interferons. The viruses able to inhibit the2 production of interferons indicates that it can infect and cause infection to humans. In thisstudy, the expression of both interferon-α and interferon-β were not inhibitedby the isolated SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses. This indicates that these SARS-CoV- like coronaviruses from bats in East-Coast Malaysia do not have a zoonotic potential to humans. Further study involving the presence of human receptor binding domain (RBD) of the virus needs to be conducted for better understanding of this zoonotic potential of the virus.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, interferon, coronavirus, zoonosis