Human Coronavirus EMC Is Not the Same as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

ABSTRACT A newly identified betacoronavirus, human coronavirus EMC (HCoV-EMC), has been isolated from several patients with respiratory and renal disease in theMiddle East. While only a few infected patients have been identified, the mortality of the infection is greater than 50%. Like its better-known cousin severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), HCoV-EMC appears to have originated from bats. In a recent article inmBio, Müller et al. described several important differences be-tween the two viruses [M. A. Müller et al.,mBio 3(6):e00515-12, 2012, doi:10.1128/mBio.00515-12]. Unlike SARS-CoV, HCoV-EMC can directly infect bat cells. As important, HCoV-EMC does not enter cells using the SARS-CoV receptor, human angiotensin-converting receptor-2 (hACE2). These results provide a strong incentive for identifying the host cell receptor used by HCoV-EMC. Identification of the receptor will provide insight into the pathogenesis of pulmonary and renal disease andmay also suggest novel therapeutic interventions. The recent identification of a novel human coronavirus, EMC(HCoV-EMC), as the causative agent for severe human respi-ratory disease raised fears that a version of the 2002-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic would recur. This fear prompted intense research efforts that resulted in publica-tions describing the clinical characteristics of the human infection and complete sequence and genomic characterization of the viru