Abstract
Most emerging and re-emerging viruses causing infectious diseases in humans and domestic animals have originated from wildlife. However, current knowledge of the spectrum of RNA viruses in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China is still limited. Here, we performed metatranscriptomic sequencing on fecal samples from 56 birds and 91 small mammals in Tibet and Qinghai Provinces, China, to delineate their viromes and focused on vertebrate RNA viruses. A total of 184 nearly complete genome RNA viruses belonging to 28 families were identified. Among these, 173 new viruses shared <90% amino acid identity with previously known viral sequences. Several of these viruses, such as those belonging to genera Orthonairovirus and Hepatovirus, could be zoonotic viruses. In addition, host taxonomy and geographical location of these viruses showed new hosts and distribution of several previously discovered viruses. Moreover, 12 invertebrate RNA viruses were identified with <40% amino acid identity to known viruses, indicating that they belong to potentially new taxa. The detection and characterization of RNA viruses from wildlife will broaden our knowledge of virus biodiversity and possible viral diseases in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.
Highlights
The majority of emerging and re-emerging viral infectious diseases in humans have originated from wildlife, including rodents and birds, and are increasing with time (Jones et al, 2008; Wu et al, 2017; He et al, 2021)
In July 2019, fecal samples of 25 birds and 50 small mammals were collected from various locations in Yushu and Nangqian Counties of Qinghai Province (3,890 m above sea level; Supplementary Figure 1 and Supplementary Table 1)
Small mammals were captured in their natural habitat using mousetraps, and birds were coincidentally captured while catching pikas near pika holes (Zhu et al, 2021b)
Summary
The majority of emerging and re-emerging viral infectious diseases in humans have originated from wildlife, including rodents and birds, and are increasing with time (Jones et al, 2008; Wu et al, 2017; He et al, 2021). The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has reminded us of the pathogenetic potential of viruses and their capacity to cause deadly outbreaks on a global scale. RNA viruses are likely to be present in all cellular life (Koonin et al, 2006) and constitute the vast majority of the global virome (Mu et al, 2017; Wolf et al, 2018; Kondo et al, 2020). Most studies primarily focus on identifying RNA viruses that are pathogenic to humans and animals.
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