Viral Diversity of Microbats within the South West Botanical Province of Western Australia.

Victoria Boyd,Michelle L Baker,Diana Prada,Mark O'Dea,Bethany Jackson

doi:10.3390/v11121157

Abstract

Bats are known reservoirs of a wide variety of viruses that rarely result in overt clinical disease in the bat host. However, anthropogenic influences on the landscape and climate can change species assemblages and interactions, as well as undermine host-resilience. The cumulative result is a disturbance of bat–pathogen dynamics, which facilitate spillover events to sympatric species, and may threaten bat communities already facing synergistic stressors through ecological change. Therefore, characterisation of viral pathogens in bat communities provides important basal information to monitor and predict the emergence of diseases relevant to conservation and public health. This study used targeted molecular techniques, serological assays and next generation sequencing to characterise adenoviruses, coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses from 11 species of insectivorous bats within the South West Botanical Province of Western Australia. Phylogenetic analysis indicated complex ecological interactions including virus–host associations, cross-species infections, and multiple viral strains circulating concurrently within selected bat populations. Additionally, we describe the entire coding sequences for five alphacoronaviruses (representing four putative new species), and one novel adenovirus. Results indicate that viral burden (both prevalence and richness) is not homogeneous among species, with Chalinolobus gouldii identified as a key epidemiological element within the studied communities.

Highlights

In the past three decades, viral surveillance in wild bat populations has accelerated due to human fatalities and the socio-economic impacts of emerging infectious diseases with bat origins, including respiratory syndrome coronaviruses, and paramyxoviruses such as Nipah and Hendra viruses [1,2].Describing viral diversity within bat communities facilitates early detection of direct and indirect zoonotic disease risks [3], which are intensified by the anthropogenic modification of the landscape, climate change and increased human–domestic animal–wildlife interactions [4,5,6]
A total of 571 faecal samples were collected from 11 species of microbats, with Chalinolobus gouldii (n= 232) and Vespadelus regulus (n= 141) having the largest representation in the dataset
Seroprevalence values for βCoV antibodies markedly differed from coronavirus RNA (CoV-RNA) prevalence estimates, especially for C. gouldii, V. regulus and C. morio

Summary

Introduction

Describing viral diversity within bat communities facilitates early detection of direct and indirect zoonotic disease risks [3], which are intensified by the anthropogenic modification of the landscape, climate change and increased human–domestic animal–wildlife interactions [4,5,6]. In bats, this link has been clearly illustrated by the loss of suitable habitat for flying foxes, and the risks of spillover events either through increased viral shedding [7], or movements of bat communities into bushland–urban interfaces [8]. A relationship between reduced nectar-based resources in winter, and Hendra virus spillover has been described [12], arguably mediated by impacts on the host energy budget and immune system, as well as dispersed foraging patterns of the host species

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion