ABSTRACT
Many animals suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the impacts were because of the actions of humans, but many animals were directly infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Some of these animals died. However, could the species of animal that were susceptible to the virus be predicted? It was thought that by using modern molecular approaches the prediction of susceptible animals would be successful, but was this the case? The chapter has a quick crash course in relevant molecular biology, to set the scene. Examples of how such technology, including bioinformatics, was used for infection prediction are discussed. Such analysis is often based on the presence of a protein known as Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), but was this useful? The use of several other proteins is discussed too. As well as collating some of the data that were gained on susceptibility prediction, the chapter ends by discussing what data may be missing to make this more useful, as well as how such technology may be improved in the future.
