{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T10:13:13Z","timestamp":1780913593142,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,12]],"date-time":"2025-05-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1747008000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001665","name":"Agence Nationale de la Recherche","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ANRS0163"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ANRS0163"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001665","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010190","name":"Grand \u00c9quipement National De Calcul Intensif","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["AD010715471"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AD010715471"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010190","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Since the beginning of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, a wide range of animal species (pets, mink\u2026) have been naturally infected with this betacoronavirus. The emergence of new variants has increased the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect species that were not susceptible to the \u201coriginal\u201d SARS-CoV-2, such as mice and rats. This work attempted to evaluate the role of urban rats in the SARS-CoV-2 transmission by combining surveillance studies of rat populations in urban environments,\n                    <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic>\n                    experimental inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 and comparative viral-receptor interaction in\n                    <jats:italic>silico<\/jats:italic>\n                    analyses. We studied the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in wild\n                    <jats:italic>Rattus norvegicus<\/jats:italic>\n                    (n\u2009=\u2009401) captured in urban areas and sewage systems of several French cities. Except for 3 inconclusive samples (2\/75 from Bordeaux and 1\/261 from Lyon) none of the 353 sera tested showed anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies by microsphere immunoassay. However, the 3 inconclusive sera samples were negative by virus neutralisation assay. No SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was detected in all lungs collected from the 401 captured urban brown rats. In complement, four rat groups (two wild-type colonies,\n                    <jats:italic>Rattus norvegicus<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Rattus rattus<\/jats:italic>\n                    , and two laboratory strains, Sprague-Dawley and Wistar) were inoculated with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5. At 4 days post-inoculation, no infectious viral particles were detected in the lungs and upper respiratory tract (URT) while viral RNA was detected at a low level only in the URT of all groups. In addition, seroconversion was observed 14 days after inoculation in the four groups. By molecular modelling, the Omicron BA.5 receptor binding domain (RBD) had lower affinities for\n                    <jats:italic>Rattus norvegicus<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Rattus rattus<\/jats:italic>\n                    ACE2 than\n                    <jats:italic>Homo sapiens<\/jats:italic>\n                    ACE2. Based on these results the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5 was unable to infect laboratory and wild type rats. In addition,\n                    <jats:italic>Rattus norvegicus<\/jats:italic>\n                    collected for this study in different areas of France were not infected with SARS-CoV-2.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0316882","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,12]],"date-time":"2025-05-12T13:52:19Z","timestamp":1747057939000},"page":"e0316882","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Infectious potential and circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in wild 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pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin","volume":"579","author":"P Zhou","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0316882.ref002","article-title":"SARS-CoV-2 and natural infection in animals","volume":"95","author":"X Qiu","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Med Virol"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0316882.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2324","DOI":"10.1111\/tbed.13659","article-title":"First detection and genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in an infected cat in France","volume":"67","author":"C Sailleau","year":"2020","journal-title":"Transbound Emerg Dis"},{"issue":"7831","key":"pone.0316882.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"776","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2334-5","article-title":"Canine SARS-CoV-2 infection.","volume":"586","author":"TH Sit","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"23","key":"pone.0316882.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2001005","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.23.2001005","article-title":"SARS-CoV-2 infection in farmed minks, the Netherlands, April and May 2020","volume":"25","author":"N Oreshkova","year":"2020","journal-title":"Euro Surveill"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0316882.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1128\/mBio.02220-20","article-title":"From People to Panthera: Natural SARS-CoV-2 infection in tigers and lions at the bronx zoo","volume":"11","author":"D McAloose","year":"2020","journal-title":"mBio"},{"key":"pone.0316882.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"826991","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2022.826991","article-title":"The finding of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in a wild eurasian river otter (lutra lutra) highlights the need for viral surveillance in wild mustelids","volume":"9","author":"M Padilla-Blanco","year":"et al","journal-title":"Front Vet Sci"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0316882.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2121644119","article-title":"Multiple spillovers from humans and onward transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer","volume":"119","author":"S Kuchipudi","year":"2022","journal-title":"Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0316882.ref009","first-page":"2100009","article-title":"Preliminary report of an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in mink and mink farmers associated with community spread, Denmark, June to November 2020.","volume":"26","author":"HD Larsen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Euro Surveill Bull Eur Sur Mal Transm Eur Commun Dis Bull"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0316882.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2011","DOI":"10.1038\/s41564-022-01268-9","article-title":"Divergent SARS-CoV-2 variant emerges in white-tailed deer with deer-to-human transmission","volume":"7","author":"B Pickering","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nat Microbiol"},{"issue":"7818","key":"pone.0316882.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"830","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2312-y","article-title":"The pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 in hACE2 transgenic mice","volume":"583","author":"L Bao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"pone.0316882.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103643","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ebiom.2021.103643","article-title":"Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants expand species tropism to murines","volume":"73","author":"H Shuai","year":"2021","journal-title":"EBioMedicine"},{"issue":"7830","key":"pone.0316882.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"509","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2787-6","article-title":"Animal models for COVID-19","volume":"586","author":"C 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cryptic SARS-CoV-2 lineages detected in NYC wastewater","volume":"13","author":"DS Smyth","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"key":"pone.0316882.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163049","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2023.163049","article-title":"Survival of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater","volume":"882","author":"S Sherchan","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci Total Environ"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0316882.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2217940","DOI":"10.1080\/22221751.2023.2217940","article-title":"The ecology of viruses in urban rodents with a focus on SARS-CoV-2","volume":"12","author":"AM Fisher","year":"2023","journal-title":"Emerg Microbes Infect"},{"key":"pone.0316882.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1155\/2023\/7631611","article-title":"Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in Norway Rats (Rattus norvegicus) from Southern Ontario. 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