Discovery and Characterization of Novel Bat Coronavirus Lineages from Kazakhstan.

Orynbayev Orynbayev,Kerimbayev Kerimbayev,Kopeyev Kopeyev,Sultankulova Sultankulova,Mendenhall Mendenhall,Su Su,Strochkov Strochkov,Smith Smith

doi:10.3390/v11040356

Abstract

Coronaviruses are positive-stranded RNA viruses that infect a variety of hosts, resulting in a range of symptoms from gastrointestinal illness to respiratory distress. Bats are reservoirs for a high diversity of coronaviruses, and focused surveillance detected several strains genetically similar to MERS-coronavirus, SARS-coronavirus, and the human coronaviruses 229E and NL63. The bat fauna of central Asia, which link China to eastern Europe, are relatively less studied than other regions of the world. Kazakhstan is the world’s ninth largest country; however, little is understood about the prevalence and diversity of bat-borne viruses. In this study, bat guano was collected from bat caves in three different sites of southern Kazakhstan that tested positive for coronaviruses. Our phylogenetic reconstruction indicates these are novel bat coronaviruses that belong to the genus Alphacoronavirus. In addition, two distinct lineages of Kazakhstan bat coronaviruses were detected. Both lineages are closely related to bat coronaviruses from China, France, Spain, and South Africa, suggesting that co-circulation of coronaviruses is common in multiple bat species with overlapping geographical distributions. Our study highlights the need for collaborative efforts in understudied countries to increase integrated surveillance capabilities toward better monitoring and detection of infectious diseases.

Highlights

Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera that possess a range of unique ecological, immunological, and behavioral attributes
Multiple fecal pellets were placed into cryovials with viral transport media using polyester swabs, which were subsequently placed into a liquid-nitrogen dry shipper and transferred back to the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems (RIBSP) in Gvardeiskiy, Kazakhstan, where all samples were stored at −80 ◦ C
Each cave was occupied by two bat species, the dominant species being Myotis blythii and the more infrequent species being Hypsugo savii (Savi’s pipistrelle)

Summary

Introduction

Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera that possess a range of unique ecological, immunological, and behavioral attributes. Bats are exceptionally speciose, comprising 20% of all mammalian species, and they are the only mammals that are capable of true flight [1]. Most bat species are gregarious and roost in large colonies, which can number over one million individuals [2]. They are relatively long-lived for their body size, and temperate species often undergo torpor or hibernation [3]. Bats act as rich reservoirs of virus diversity with at least 23 families of viruses detected, including double-stranded. Bats are incriminated as the source of several medically important virus families, including filoviruses, coronaviruses, paramyxoviruses, and reoviruses [5,6]. Several recent zoonotic spillover events and outbreaks directly or indirectly originated from bats [1]

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