Metagenomic identification of a new sarbecovirus from horseshoe bats in Europe

Crook, Jack; Murphy, Ivana; Carter, Dan; Pullan, Steven T.; Carroll, Miles W.; Vipond, Richard; Cunningham, Andrew A.; Bell, Diana

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-94011-z

Cited by 40 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…That is why it is important to monitor the prevalence of CoVs in animals already known as hosts for CoVs (e.g., bats, hedgehogs) and other yet unexplored. Such studies have recently identified novel sarbecovirus in a British horseshoe bat, confirming that these viruses are distributed not only in Asian rhinolophids and revealed that the opportunities for emerging zoonoses are persistent and globally threatening 31 . As bats and hedgehogs are phylogenetically closely related and both are insectivorous animals 17 , 32 , future studies on the circulation of CoVs in these species may shed light on the diversity and evolution of merbecoviruses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

First detection of Hedgehog coronavirus 1 in Poland

Pomorska‐Mól

Ruszkowski

Gogulski

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hedgehogs are common in the majority of European countries and are known to host various pathogens, including viruses. The recent discovery of MERS-related coronaviruses (CoVs) in hedgehogs from Germany, France, the UK, China, and Italy suggests that hedgehogs may represent a wild reservoir of betacoronaviruses. This study reports the first detection and characterization of novel betacoronovirus, subgenus Merbecovirus in wild hedgehogs in Poland. The CoV RNA was detected in 10 out of 40 hedgehogs’ rectal swabs and in 1 out of 18 samples of the lung. No viral RNA was identified in the duodenum and kidney. There was no significant relationship between clinical status, gender, hedgehogs' age, and coronaviral RNA detection. Phylogenetic analysis showed that CoVs detected in our study grouped together with other representatives of Hedgehog coronavirus 1 species identified in Western Europe. Our findings provide further evidence that hedgehogs are a natural reservoir of Merbecovirus. Considering the high mutation rate of CoVs and their potential for crossing interspecies barriers, the proper management of hedgehogs admitted to wildlife rehabilitation centres is needed. It cannot be excluded that merbecovirus strains detected in hedgehogs may recombine with other CoVs leading to new viruses with potential for interspecies transmission.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

First detection of Hedgehog coronavirus 1 in Poland

Pomorska‐Mól

Ruszkowski

Gogulski

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Given that ACE2 binding is an ancestral sarbecovirus trait with plastic evolutionary potential, unsampled sarbecoviruses lineages probably have the ability to bind to ACE2 and evolve to bind to human ACE2 unless these traits have been specifically lost as occurred in clade 2. To test this idea, we investigated sarbecoviruses reported after the initiation of our study, including viruses from Africa 19 and Europe 32 , 47 and a new RBD lineage represented by RsYN04 from a Rhinolophus stheno bat in Yunnan, China 15 , which branches separately from the four RBD clades previously described (Fig. 4a ).…”

Section: New Sarbecovirus Lineages Bind To Ace2mentioning

confidence: 99%

ACE2 binding is an ancestral and evolvable trait of sarbecoviruses

Starr

Zepeda

Walls

et al. 2022

Nature

160

176

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two different sarbecoviruses have caused major human outbreaks in the past two decades1,2. Both of these sarbecoviruses, SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, engage ACE2 through the spike receptor-binding domain2–6. However, binding to ACE2 orthologues of humans, bats and other species has been observed only sporadically among the broader diversity of bat sarbecoviruses7–11. Here we use high-throughput assays12 to trace the evolutionary history of ACE2 binding across a diverse range of sarbecoviruses and ACE2 orthologues. We find that ACE2 binding is an ancestral trait of sarbecovirus receptor-binding domains that has subsequently been lost in some clades. Furthermore, we reveal that bat sarbecoviruses from outside Asia can bind to ACE2. Moreover, ACE2 binding is highly evolvable—for many sarbecovirus receptor-binding domains, there are single amino-acid mutations that enable binding to new ACE2 orthologues. However, the effects of individual mutations can differ considerably between viruses, as shown by the N501Y mutation, which enhances the human ACE2-binding affinity of several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern12 but substantially decreases it for SARS-CoV-1. Our results point to the deep ancestral origin and evolutionary plasticity of ACE2 binding, broadening the range of sarbecoviruses that should be considered to have spillover potential.

show abstract

“…The analysis also revealed that the insertions in some isolates had further changes involving point mutations, deletions, and insertions. Moreover, as shown in Figure 3A, a similar 5’-UTR-derived insertion at the carboxyl-terminus of ORF8 is seen in five Sarbecovirus β-CoVs from what is considered the animal reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, the Rhinolophus (horseshoe) bats residing in Indochina and Southwest China (Temmam et al 2021) all the way to England (Crook et al 2021).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Intragenomic rearrangements of SARS-CoV-2 and other β-coronaviruses

Patarca

Haseltine

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The continuation of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic depends on the generation of new viral variants. Documented variation includes point mutations, deletions, insertions, and recombination among closely or distantly related coronaviruses. Here, we describe yet another aspect of genome variation by β-coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Specifically, we report numerous genomic insertions of 5′-untranslated region sequences into coding regions of SARS-CoV-2 and other beta-coronaviruses. To our knowledge this is the first systematic description of such insertions. In many cases, these insertions change viral protein sequences and further foster genomic flexibility and viral adaptability through insertion of transcription regulatory sequences in novel positions within the genome. Among human Embecorivus β-coronaviruses, for instance, from one-third to one-half of surveyed sequences in publicly available databases contain 5′-UTR-derived inserted sequences. In limited instances, there is mounting evidence that these insertions alter the fundamental biological properties of mutant viruses. Intragenomic rearrangements add to our appreciation of how SARS-CoV-2 variants may arise.

show abstract

Metagenomic identification of a new sarbecovirus from horseshoe bats in Europe

Cited by 40 publications

References 58 publications

First detection of Hedgehog coronavirus 1 in Poland

First detection of Hedgehog coronavirus 1 in Poland

ACE2 binding is an ancestral and evolvable trait of sarbecoviruses

Intragenomic rearrangements of SARS-CoV-2 and other β-coronaviruses

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About