RmYN02 is a bat-derived strain of

Severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus Severity or Severely may refer to: * ''Severity'' (video game), a canceled video game * "Severely" (song), by South Korean band F.T. Island See also

* * {{disambig ...

. It was discovered in bat droppings collected between May and October 2019 from sites in Mengla County,

Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, China. It is the second-closest known relative of

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

, the virus strain that causes

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, sharing 93.3% nucleotide identity at the scale of the complete virus genome. RmYN02 contains an insertion at the S1/S2 cleavage site in the

spike protein In virology, a spike protein or peplomer protein is a protein that forms a large structure known as a spike or peplomer projecting from the surface of an viral envelope, enveloped virus. as cited in The proteins are usually glycoproteins that ...

, similar to SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that such insertion events can occur naturally. Other researchers have questioned the validity of this as an authentic furin cleavage site insertion, noting that it appears more likely to be a deletion of two amino acids at that locus.

Genetics

It shares 93.3% genome with SARS-CoV-2. RmYN02 was 97.2% identical to SARS-CoV-2 in the 1ab. RmYN02 was 71.8% identical in nucleotide and 97.4% in amino acid to SARS-CoV-2 in the S gene, compared to 97.4% amino acid identity between RaTG13 and SARS-CoV-2. All genetic data were found by Weifeng Shi and his team.

Discovery

RmYN02 was collected between May and July, 2019, in Yunnan by Professor Alice C. Hughes from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, and sequenced by Weifeng Shi from Shandong Medical University, based on an analysis of 302 feces samples collected from 227 bats that were collected from Mengla County, Yunnan Province, China, within a short distance from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. The genome itself was assembled from a pool of 11 samples.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q104857014 SARS-CoV-2 Bat virome Coronaviridae Animal virology Sarbecovirus Zoonotic viral diseases