Abstract
Background: Although the finding of SARS coronavirus SARS-CoV) in caged palm civets suggested that wild animals re the origin of SARS-CoV, subsequent studies suggested hat civet may have served only as an amplification host. n 2005, we identified a coronavirus closely related to SARSoV (bat-SARS-CoV) in Chinese horseshoe bats. However, it emains to be determined if bat-SARS-CoV or other coronviruses in bats are the direct progenitor of SARS-CoV. Methods: To understand the diversity and evolution of oronaviruses in bats, a 2-year surveillance study for coroaviruses was conducted in bats from various rural areas n Hong Kong. As coronaviruses are known to have high ecombination frequency, the genomes of the identified ovel coronaviruses were also sequenced and analyzed to etermine possible recombination events responsible for nterspecies transmission. Results: Among 1389 bats of 16 species from 24 different ocations, coronaviruses were identified from anal swabs of 32 (9.5%) bats by RT-PCR. Phylogenetic analysis revealed t least seven novel coronaviruses from seven different bat pecies, in addition to bat-SARS-CoV. Five of them belonged o group 1 coronaviruses while two belonged to group 2 coroaviruses. Besides bat-SARS-CoV, Chinese horseshoe bats ere found to harbor another novel group 1 coronavirus. he genome of this virus represents the smallest coronavirus enome and possessed a unique spike protein evolutionarly distinct from the rest of the genome and containing a 5-amino acid peptide homologous to a corresponding pepide within the RBM of spike protein of SARS-CoV, suggesting common evolutionary origin in the spike protein of this roup 1 bat coronavirus, bat-SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV. Conclusion: Bats are important reservoir for a huge diverity of coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-like viruses. The nding of another group 1 coronavirus in Chinese horsehoe bats with a homologous peptide to SARS-CoV warrants urther investigations on the origin of the SARS-CoV spike rotein.
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