Two novelcoronaviruseshaveemergedtocauseseverediseaseinhumans.Whilebatsmaybethe
primary reservoirforbothviruses,SARScoronavirus(SARS-CoV)likelycrossedintohumansfromcivets
in China,andMERScoronavirus(MERS-CoV)hasbeentransmittedfromcamelsintheMiddleEast.
UnlikeSARS-CoVthatresolvedwithinayear,continuedintroductionsofMERS-CoVpresentanon-going
public healththreat.Animalmodelsareneededtoevaluatecountermeasuresagainstemergingviruses.
With SARS-CoV,severalanimalspecieswerepermissivetoinfection.Incontrast,mostlaboratory
animals arerefractoryoronlysemi-permissivetoinfectionwithMERS-CoV.Thishost-rangerestriction
is largelydeterminedbysequenceheterogeneityintheMERS-CoVreceptor.Wedescribeanimal
models developedtostudycoronaviruses,withafocusonhost-rangerestrictionatthelevelofthe
viral receptoranddiscussapproachestoconsiderindevelopingamodeltoevaluatecountermeasures
against MERS-CoV.