The Uniqueness of Bats

Racey, Paul A.

doi:10.1002/9781118818824.ch1

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…In the scope of recently emerging zoonotic diseases, the search for new batborne viruses has become a well-funded field in the scientific community. While research is important to advance our understanding about the emergence of diseases and to possibly prevent further spillover events, the methods involved in these surveys are sometimes questionable from the perspective of bat conservation (Racey 2015). Some of the investigated bat species are listed as near threatened or vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with decreasing population sizes even in many species of least concern.…”

Section: Indirect Effect-killing Of Bats For Virus Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zoonotic Viruses and Conservation of Bats

Schneeberger

Voigt

2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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Many of the recently emerging highly virulent zoonotic diseases have a likely bat origin, for example Hendra, Nipah, Ebola and diseases caused by coronaviruses. Presumably because of their long history of coevolution, most of these viruses remain subclinical in bats, but have the potential to cause severe illnesses in domestic and wildlife animals and also humans. Spillovers from bats to humans either happen directly (via contact with infected bats) or indirectly (via intermediate hosts such as domestic or wildlife animals, by consuming food items contaminated by saliva, faeces or urine of bats, or via other environmental sources). Increasing numbers of breakouts of zoonotic viral diseases among humans and livestock have mainly been accounted to human encroachment into natural habitat, as well as agricultural intensification, deforestation and bushmeat consumption. Persecution of bats, including the destruction of their roosts and culling of whole colonies, has led not only to declines of protected bat species, but also to an increase in virus prevalence in some of these populations. Educational efforts are needed in order to prevent future spillovers of bat-borne viruses to humans and livestock, and to further protect bats from unnecessary and counterproductive culling.

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Section: Indirect Effect-killing Of Bats For Virus Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zoonotic Viruses and Conservation of Bats

Schneeberger

Voigt

2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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“…Bats are the second most species-rich taxonomic group of mammals after rodents, representing 20% of mammalian diversity. Part of the Chiroptera taxonomical order, these flying mammals inhabit all continents except Antarctica [ 1 ]. Bats play an essential role in ecosystems globally and humans benefit from their presence in many ways due to their roles for example in seed dispersal, pollination and their guano being used as an organic fertilizer [ 1 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Part of the Chiroptera taxonomical order, these flying mammals inhabit all continents except Antarctica [ 1 ]. Bats play an essential role in ecosystems globally and humans benefit from their presence in many ways due to their roles for example in seed dispersal, pollination and their guano being used as an organic fertilizer [ 1 ]. Many bats, including all European species, are insectivorous and prey on several insect species that can cause high economic losses [ 1 , 2 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viral Metagenomic Profiling of Croatian Bat Population Reveals Sample and Habitat Dependent Diversity

Šimić

Zorec

Lojkić

et al. 2020

Viruses

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To date, the microbiome, as well as the virome of the Croatian populations of bats, was unknown. Here, we present the results of the first viral metagenomic analysis of guano, feces and saliva (oral swabs) of seven bat species (Myotis myotis, Miniopterus schreibersii, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Eptesicus serotinus, Myotis blythii, Myotis nattereri and Myotis emarginatus) conducted in Mediterranean and continental Croatia. Viral nucleic acids were extracted from sample pools, and analyzed using Illumina sequencing. The presence of 63 different viral families representing all seven Baltimore groups were confirmed, most commonly insect viruses likely reflecting the diet of insectivorous bats. Virome compositions of our samples were largely impacted by the sample type: invertebrate-infecting viruses were most frequently found in feces, bacterial viruses in guano, whereas vertebrate-infecting viruses were most common in swabs. Most vertebrate-infecting virus sequences were assigned to retroviruses, parvoviruses, iridoviruses, and poxviruses. We further report the complete genome sequence of a novel adeno-associated virus, densovirus and a near complete length genome sequence of a novel iflavirus. Additionally, one of the most interesting findings in this study was the difference in viromes between two contrasting habitats, the continental and Mediterranean Croatia.

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“…The genome sequence is now available to the scientific. In addition, as bats display many unique biological features among mammals (Racey, 2015), growing number of new bat species are expected to be sequenced, some of them within the Bat 1K project for sequencing all bats' species (Teeling et al, 2018). A meta-analysis of bat phylogenetic and positive selection recently suggested a number of genes known to be primarily related to immune responses (Hawkins et al, 2019) and their further functional analysis will allow the understanding of their role in hosting different viruses by bats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%