Novel herpesviruses in neotropical bats and their relationship with other members of the Herpesviridae family

Abstract

In the past decade, a large number of studies have detected herpesvirus sequences from many bat species around the world. Nevertheless, the discovery of bat herpesviruses is geographically uneven. Of the various bat species tested to date, only a few were from the New World. Seeking to investigate the distribution and diversity of herpesviruses circulating in neotropical bats, we carried out molecular screening of 195 blood DNA samples from 11 species of three bat families (Phyllostomidae, Mormoopidae, and Molossidae). Using polymerase chain reaction amplification, with degenerate consensus primers targeting highly conserved amino acid motifs of the herpesvirus DNA polymerase and Glycoprotein B genes, we characterized novel viral sequences from all tested species. BLAST searches, pairwise nucleotide and amino acid sequence comparisons, as well as phylogenetic analyses confirmed that they all belonged to the Herpesviridae family, of the Beta-and Gammaherpesvirinae subfamilies. Fourteen partial DNA polymerase gene sequences, of which three beta-and 11 gamma-herpesviruses, were detected. A total of 12 partial Glycoprotein B gene sequences, all gamma-herpesviruses, were characterized. Every sequence was specific to a bat species and in some species (Desmodus rotundus, Carollia perspicillata, and Pteronotus rubiginosus) multiple viruses were found. Phylogenetic analyses of beta-and gammaherpesvirus sequences led to the identification of bat-specific clades. Those composed of sequences obtained from different bat species belonging to distinct subfamilies follow the taxonomy of bats. This study confirms the astonishing diversity of bat herpesviruses and broadens our knowledge of their host range. Nevertheless, it also emphasizes the fact that, to better appreciate the evolutionary history of these viruses, much remains to be done at various taxonomic levels.

The virome of the white-winged vampire bat Diaemus youngi is rich in circular DNA viruses

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest and most up-to-date study analyzing virus diversity of the white-winged vampire bat. Recently, a study conducted in French Guiana described the diversity of herpesviruses in the same bat species [ 25 ], although interestingly, this virus was not detected in the present work.…”

“…Most of the research is focused on D. rotundus due to its wide distribution and high-density colonies [ 16 – 21 ]. Research on D. caudata is scarce [ 22 – 24 ], and to the best of our knowledge, the virus diversity and pathogen potential of D. youngi have not been reported, with the exception of herpesviruses detected in blood samples collected in French Guiana [ 25 ].…”

Evidence linking APOBEC3B genesis and evolution of innate immune antagonism by gamma-herpesvirus ribonucleotide reductases

“…Future work will likely benefit from interrogating the RNRs and A3 enzymes from a larger and more diverse panel of virus and host species, which is currently prevented by the relatively small number of herpesvirus complete genomes deposited in public databases. Bat species may be particularly interesting given they encode the largest known A3 repertoire in mammals ( Hayward et al, 2018 ; Jebb et al, 2020 ) and are also known to host a variety of different herpesviruses ( Wibbelt et al, 2007 ; Watanabe et al, 2010 ; Wu et al, 2012 ; Anthony et al, 2013 ; Sasaki et al, 2014 ; Sano et al, 2015 ; Zheng et al, 2016 ; Shabman et al, 2016 ; Escalera-Zamudio et al, 2016 ; James et al, 2020 ; Letko et al, 2020 ).…”

Evidence linking APOBEC3B genesis and evolution of innate immune antagonism by gamma-herpesvirus ribonucleotide reductases

“…Future work will likely benefit from interrogating the RNRs and A3 enzymes from a larger and more diverse panel of virus and host species, which is currently prevented by the relatively small number of herpesvirus complete genomes deposited in public databases. Bat species may be particularly interesting given they encode the largest known A3 repertoire in mammals [61,62] and are also known to host a variety of different herpesviruses [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73].…”