Detection of Coronaviruses in Bats of Various Species in Italy

Abstract

Bats are natural reservoirs for many mammalian coronaviruses, which have received renewed interest after the discovery of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) CoV in humans. This study describes the identification and molecular characterization of alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses in bats in Italy, from 2010 to 2012. Sixty-nine faecal samples and 126 carcasses were tested using pan-coronavirus RT-PCR. Coronavirus RNAs were detected in seven faecal samples and nine carcasses. A phylogenetic analysis of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase sequence fragments aided in identifying two alphacoronaviruses from Kuhl’s pipistrelle (Pipistrellus kuhlii), three clade 2b betacoronaviruses from lesser horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros), and 10 clade 2c betacoronaviruses from Kuhl’s pipistrelle, common noctule (Nyctalus noctula), and Savi’s pipistrelle (Hypsugo savii). This study fills a substantive gap in the knowledge on bat-CoV ecology in Italy, and extends the current knowledge on clade 2c betacoronaviruses with new sequences obtained from bats that have not been previously described as hosts of these viruses.

The emergence of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus

“…; Lau et al ., ). Since MERS‐CoV's identification in 2012, closely related coronavirus sequences have been detected in bats in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Eurasia, suggesting a widespread circulation of MERS‐CoV‐related viruses in the order Chiroptera (Annan et al ., ; Anthony et al ., ; De Benedictis et al ., ; Ithete et al ., ; Lelli et al ., ; Wacharapluesadee et al ., ). Investigations of samples from bats roosting in the vicinity of the first MERS‐CoV case in Bisha, Saudi Arabia, revealed the presence of a 190‐nucleotide RNA fragment with 100% match to the RdRp of MERS‐CoV in the feces of an Egyptian tomb bat ( Taphozous perforates ;Memish et al ., ).…”

Emerging infectious diseases: MERS-COV, the new Betacoronavirus pandemic

“…12 On the account of phylogenetic resemblance of MERS-CoV to both bat CoV-HKU4 and -HKU5, initial investigations were driven towards bats as the plausible source. 13 To support this theory, several Virologic studies were carried out to show some of the coronavirus RNA sequences having a close resemblance to MERS-CoV sequence. A survey of bats faecal samples, around were the index Saudi patient lived, were tested by PCR.…”

“…A more recent report of a novel beta-coronavirus obtained from bats in South Africa, implies that MERS coronavirus predecessors may perhaps exist in the Old-World bats. 13 However, all the evidence advocating that bats play a role in the transmutation of MERS-CoV are lacking and yet to be established.…”

<b>Ocorrência e caracterização molecular de coronavírus e rotavírus do grupo A em quirópteros do Estado de São Paulo</b>

“…Sendo que a primeira já é conhecidamente importante na população de morcegos e está distribuída no mundo todo (TANG et al, 2006;;WOO et al, 2006;CARRINGTON et al, 2008;DOMINGUEZ et al, 2008;GLOZA-RAUSCH et al, 2008;TONG et al, 2009;AUGUST;MATHEWS;NUNN, 2012;CARRINGTON et al, 2008;SHIRATO et al, 2012b;ANTHONY et al, 2013;GÓES et al, 2013;LELLI et al, 2013), enquanto que a última ainda foi pouco explorada, apresentando duas descrições na China (HE et al, 2013;XIA et al, 2014), uma no (WOO et al, 2006;DOMINGUEZ et al, 2008;GLOZA-RAUSCH et al, 2008;WATANABE et al, 2010;AUGUST;MATHEWS;NUNN, 2012;SHIRATO et al, 2012b;LELLI et al, 2013). Não foi verificada associação da ocorrência de coronavírus e sexo do animal (p=0,869), como já descrito por anteriormente (GLOZA-RAUSCH et al, 2008;OSBORNE et al, 2011).…”

“…Ainda, o ectodomínio S1 é a porção que possui a maioria dos epítopos neutralizantes, induzindo a resposta imune hospedeira podendo ser utilizada como subunidade de vacina contra a infecção por coronavírus ( HE et al, 2005;DU et al, 2009) Os coronavírus usam uma grande variedade de receptores, incluindo os receptores da enzima conversora de angiotensina usada pelo SARS-CoV HOFMANN et al, 2005) e HCoV-NL63; da aminopeptidase N usada pelo TGEV (DELMAS et al, 1992) GLOZA-RAUSCH et al, 2008;MISRA et al, 2009;TONG et al, 2009; OSBORNE et al, 2011;SHIRATO et al, 2012b;CORMAN et al, 2013;LELLI et al, 2013). Dentro desses dois gêneros, novas espécies virais obtidas de morcegos estão sendo determinadas, demonstrando a importância desses animais como reservatórios de coronavírus (DE GROOT et al, 2012).…”