Four amino acid insertions (SPRRs) unique to SARS-CoV-2 are marked in yellow. Conserved S1/S2 cleavage sites are marked in green.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

A putative furin recognition motif, a cleavage site used by furin protease during virus egression, is only found in SARS-CoV-2. This method is similarly used in MERS-CoV. The S protein of Pangolin-CoV and other SARS-like CoV does not have furin sequence motif, demonstrating that SARS-CoV-2 may use a different mechanism for entry into host cells. 

Only SARS-CoV-2 contains a potential cleavage site for furin proteases

Zhang, T., Wu, Q., & Zhang, Z. (2020). Probable Pangolin Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Associated with the COVID-19 Outbreak. Current biology : CB, 30(7), 1346–1351.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.022

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