Virus Diversity, Abundance, and Evolution in Three Different Bat Colonies in Switzerland
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Date
2022-09
Publication Type
Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
Bats are increasingly recognized as reservoirs for many different viruses that threaten public health, such as Hendravirus, Ebolavirus, Nipahvirus, and SARS- and MERS-coronavirus. To assess spillover risk, viromes of bats from different parts of the world have been investigated in the past. As opposed to most of these prior studies, which determined the bat virome at a single time point, the current work was performed to monitor changes over time. Specifically, fecal samples of three endemic Swiss bat colonies consisting of three different bat species were collected over three years and analyzed using next-generation sequencing. Furthermore, single nucleotide variants of selected DNA and RNA viruses were analyzed to investigate virus genome evolution. In total, sequences of 22 different virus families were found, of which 13 are known to infect vertebrates. Most interestingly, in a Vespertilio murinus colony, sequences from a MERS-related beta-coronavirus were consistently detected over three consecutive years, which allowed us to investigate viral genome evolution in a natural reservoir host.
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published
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Journal / series
Volume
14 (9)
Pages / Article No.
1911
Publisher
MDPI
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Edition / version
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Date collected
Date created
Subject
bats; viral metagenomics; Switzerland; virus; diversity; mutations; natural environment; coronavirus; rotavirus; reservoir host; virus evolution
Organisational unit
02207 - Functional Genomics Center Zurich / Functional Genomics Center Zurich