SARS-like Coronaviruses in Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophus spp.) in Russia, 2020.

Sergey Alkhovsky,Sergey Lenshin,Asya Gitelman,Alexey Romashin,Oleg Vyshemirsky,Yulia Bulycheva,Dmitry Lvov,Tatyana Vishnevskaya

doi:10.3390/v14010113

Abstract

We found and genetically described two novel SARS-like coronaviruses in feces and oral swabs of the greater (R. ferrumequinum) and the lesser (R. hipposideros) horseshoe bats in southern regions of Russia. The viruses, named Khosta-1 and Khosta-2, together with related viruses from Bulgaria and Kenya, form a separate phylogenetic lineage. We found evidence of recombination events in the evolutionary history of Khosta-1, which involved the acquisition of the structural proteins S, E, and M, as well as the nonstructural genes ORF3, ORF6, ORF7a, and ORF7b, from a virus that is related to the Kenyan isolate BtKY72. The examination of bats by RT-PCR revealed that 62.5% of the greater horseshoe bats in one of the caves were positive for Khosta-1 virus, while its overall prevalence was 14%. The prevalence of Khosta-2 was 1.75%. Our results show that SARS-like coronaviruses circulate in horseshoe bats in the region, and we provide new data on their genetic diversity.

Highlights

Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae: Rhinolophus) are considered a main natural reservoir and source of zoonotic coronaviruses (CoV), which caused epidemic outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2002 and 2019, respectively [1,2]. These viruses, designated SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, together with related viruses found in bats and other animals (SARS-like coronaviruses or SARS-CoV-like viruses), belong to the subgenus Sarbecovirus of the genus Betacoronavirus of the family
In East Asia, SARS-CoV-like viruses circulate in multiple rhinolophid species; the Chinese rufous (R. sinicus) and the greater (R. ferrumequinum), intermediate (R. affinis), Malayan (R. malayanus), the least (R. pusillus), and king (R. rex) horseshoe bats seem to be of major importance [4]
SARS-CoVgreater horseshoe batsbats collected in Kolokolnaya cave

Summary

Introduction

Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae: Rhinolophus) are considered a main natural reservoir and source of zoonotic coronaviruses (CoV), which caused epidemic outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2002 and 2019, respectively [1,2]. These viruses, designated SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, together with related viruses found in bats and other animals (SARS-like coronaviruses or SARS-CoV-like viruses), belong to the subgenus Sarbecovirus of the genus Betacoronavirus of the family.

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Conclusion