Full-genome sequences of alphacoronaviruses and astroviruses from myotis and pipistrelle bats in denmark

Christina M. Lazov, Graham J. Belsham, Anette Bøtner, Thomas Bruun Rasmussen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Bat species worldwide are receiving increased attention for the discovery of emerging viruses, cross-species transmission, and zoonoses, as well as for characterizing virus infections specific to bats. In a previous study, we investigated the presence of coronaviruses in faecal samples from bats at different locations in Denmark, and made phylogenies based on short, partial ORF1b sequences. In this study, selected samples containing bat coronaviruses from three different bat species were analysed, using a non-targeted approach of next-generation sequencing. From the resulting metagenomics data, we assembled full-genome sequences of seven distinct alphacoron-aviruses, three astroviruses, and a polyomavirus, as well as partial genome sequences of rotavirus H and caliciviruses, from the different bat species. Comparisons to published sequences indicate that the bat alphacoronaviruses belong to three different subgenera—i.e., Pedacovirus, Nyctacovirus, and Myotacovirus—that the astroviruses may be new species in the genus Mamastrovirus, and that the polyomavirus could also be a new species, but unassigned to a genus. Furthermore, several viruses of invertebrates—including two Rhopalosiphum padi (aphid) viruses and a Kadipiro virus—present in the faecal material were assembled. Interestingly, this is the first detection in Europe of a Kadipiro virus.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1073
JournalViruses
Volume13
Issue number6
ISSN1999-4915
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Insect viruses
  • RNA viruses
  • Virus excretion
  • Virus taxonomy

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