For things you’d want to look at to predict animal-to-human jump, I’d say probably look at...
viral-entry-method
the anchoring and docking protein, and its specificity, similarity between the animal and human (or even the absence/presence of the membrane protein it docks to in humans)
Similarity of immune system
Pigs and ferrets generally seem very human-close
the virus mutation rate
Actually quite different across viruses! Small RNA viruses are generally flirting with error catastrophe, while large DNA viruses are incentivized (and able) to be more careful. You can see something like 100x differences in mutation rates across radically different viruses.
Within-species diversity and population-density for the endemic host (tends to yield generally more powerful, adaptable, immune-evasive viruses)
Rats, mice, and bats (large populations, high genetic diversity; a lot of zoonotics seem to originate in these guys)
For things you’d want to look at to predict animal-to-human jump, I’d say probably look at...
viral-entry-method
the anchoring and docking protein, and its specificity, similarity between the animal and human (or even the absence/presence of the membrane protein it docks to in humans)
Similarity of immune system
Pigs and ferrets generally seem very human-close
the virus mutation rate
Actually quite different across viruses! Small RNA viruses are generally flirting with error catastrophe, while large DNA viruses are incentivized (and able) to be more careful. You can see something like 100x differences in mutation rates across radically different viruses.
Within-species diversity and population-density for the endemic host (tends to yield generally more powerful, adaptable, immune-evasive viruses)
Rats, mice, and bats (large populations, high genetic diversity; a lot of zoonotics seem to originate in these guys)