Presence of SARS-CoV-2-like coronaviruses in bats from east coast Malaysia
https://doi.org/10.47665/tb.40.3.001
- Author:
Gilbert, M.
1
;
Mohamed, M.
1
;
Choong, S.S.
1
;
Baqi, A.
2
;
Kumaran, J.V.
2
;
Sani, I.
1
;
Noralidin, A
1
;
Manaf, A.
1
;
Reduan, F.H.
1
;
Tan, L.P.
1
;
Jusoh, M.
3
Author Information
1. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Pengkalan Chepa, 16100 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
2. Faculty of Earth Science, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), Jeli Campus, 17600, Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia
3. Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
SARS- CoV-2 like coronaviruses;
bats;
East Coast Malaysia.
- From:Tropical Biomedicine
2023;40(No.3):273-280
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Most of the public health importance coronaviruses, such as Severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and SARS-CoV-2
are likely originated from bats and spread to humans through intermediate hosts; civet cats, dromedary
camel and Malayan pangolin, respectively. SARS-CoV-2-like coronaviruses were detected in Thailand,
which is neighbouring with Kelantan in East Coast Malaysia. To date, there is no report on the presence
of public health concerns (SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV) coronaviruses in bats from Malaysia.
This study was aimed to elucidate the presence of these coronaviruses in bat samples from East Coast,
Malaysia. A total of hundred seventy oropharyngeal swab samples were collected from three states
of East Coast Malaysia. Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) was conducted
based on partial 3’ Untranslated region (3’UTR) or ORF10 gene and the products were sequenced. The
sequences were compared with all coronavirus sequences from the National Center for Biotechnology
Information-GenBank (NCBI-GenBank) using NCBI-Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (NCBI-BLAST)
software. A phylogenetic tree was constructed to determine the genetic relationship among the detected
coronaviruses with the reference coronaviruses from the NCBI-GenBank. Our results showed that SARSCoV-2-like viruses were present in 3% (5/170) of the bats from East Coast Malaysia that have 98-99%
sequence identities and are genetically related to SARS-CoV-2 from humans. This finding indicates the
presence of SARS-CoV-2-like viruses in bats from East Coast Malaysia that may become a public health
concern in the future.
- Full text:8.2023my1417.pdf
