While the virus—Cardioderma cor coronavirus (CcCoV) KY43, or CcCoV-KY43—can bind to a cell receptor found in the human lung, preliminary testing in Kenya suggests it has not spilled over into the local human population.

Rather than work on “live” viruses, the scientists used a public database of known genetic sequences, Genbank, to select and synthesize alphacoronavirus “spike” proteins, including 27 viruses originally isolated in bats, and screened these against a library of coronavirus receptors found in human cells.

Spike proteins protrude from the surface of coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, and bind to specific receptors on human cells, triggering infection.