Abstract

Environmental disturbances in the Neotropics (e.g., deforestation, agriculture intensification, urbanization) contribute to an increasing risk of cross-species transmission of microorganisms and to disease outbreaks due to changing ecosystems of reservoir hosts. Although Amazonia encompasses the greatest diversity of reservoir species, the outsized viral population diversity (virome) has yet to be investigated. Here, through a metagenomic approach, we identified 10,991 viral sequences in the saliva and feces of two bat species, Desmodus rotundus (hematophagous), trapped in two different caves surrounded by primary lowland forest, and Molossus molossus (insectivorous), trapped in forest and urban habitats. These sequences are related to 51 viral families known to infect a wide range of hosts (i.e., bacteria, plants, insects and vertebrates). Most viruses detected reflected the diet of bat species, with a high proportion of plant and insect-related viral families for M. molossus and a high proportion of vertebrate-related viral families for D. rotundus, highlighting its influence in shaping the viral diversity of bats. Lastly, we reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships for five vertebrate-related viral families (Nairoviridae, Circoviridae, Retroviridae, Herpesviridae, Papillomaviridae). The results showed highly supported clustering with other viral sequences of the same viral family hosted by other bat species, highlighting the potential association of viral diversity with the host’s diet. These findings provide significant insight into viral bat diversity in French Guiana belonging to the Amazonian biome and emphasize that habitats and the host’s dietary ecology may drive the viral diversity in the bat communities investigated.

Highlights

  • Bats present a rich viral diversity as compared to other animals and their uniqueness as hosts of pathogenic viruses has animated debates in recent years [1,2,3]

  • The aim of our study was to characterize the virome in the feces and the saliva of two abundant and opportunistic Amazonian bat species: the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus (Phyllostomidae) and Pallas’s mastiff bat, Molossus molossus (Molossidae)

  • For M. molossus, 33,333,557 raw sequences were generated from both feces and saliva samples and 19,992,037 for D. rotundus

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Bats present a rich viral diversity as compared to other animals and their uniqueness as hosts of pathogenic viruses has animated debates in recent years [1,2,3]. Viral diversity of two sympatric Amazonian bat species

Objectives
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call