Molecular identification of a presumably novel hantavirus in bronze tube-nosed bat (Murina aenea) in Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose: Hantaviruses (Hantaviridae) cause two types of life-threatening human diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Eurasia and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in the Americas. To date, as a consensus, wild rodents were believed as natural hosts of hantaviruses. However, recent studies described several novel hantaviruses in shrews, moles and bats, suggesting the dispersal of hantaviruses in several animal taxa during their evolution. Interestingly, the co-evolutionary analyses of most recent studies have raised the possibility of bats and/or soricomorphs may have served as the primordial mammalian host and harboured the ancestors of rodent-borne hantaviruses.The aim of our study was to investigate the presence of hantaviruses in bat lung tissue homogenates originally collected for taxonomic purposes in Malaysia, 2015. Methods & Materials: Hantavirus specific nested PCR screening of 116 samples targeting the L segment of the virus have revealed the positivity of two lung tissue homogenates originating from Murina aenea bat species. Results: The obtained results indicate the first molecular evidence for hantavirus in Murina eanae bat species. Conclusion: Preliminary sequence analysis of the PCR amplicon suggest the identified virus may represents a novel species within Orthohantavirus genus. Furthermore, our results provide additional genomic data to help extend our knowledge about the evolution of these viruses and we present the first hantavirus sequence from Murina bat genus.