1.Bat coronavirus was detected positive from insectivorous bats in Krau Wildlife Reserve Forest
Siew, Z.Y. ; Lai, Z.J. ; Ho, Q.Y. ; Ter, H.C. ; Ho, S.H. ; Wong, S.T. ; Gani, M. ; Leong, P.P. ; Voon, K.
Tropical Biomedicine 2023;40(No.4):462-470
Bats are flying mammals with unique immune systems that allow them to hold many pathogens.
Hence, they are recognised as the reservoir of many zoonotic pathogens. In this study, we performed
molecular detection to detect coronaviruses, paramyxoviruses, pteropine orthoreoviruses and dengue
viruses from samples collected from insectivorous bats in Krau Reserve Forest. One faecal sample from
Rhinolophus spp. was detected positive for coronavirus. Based on BLASTN, phylogenetic analysis and
pairwise alignment-based sequence identity calculation, the detected bat coronavirus is most likely to
be a bat betacoronavirus lineage slightly different from coronavirus from China, Philippines, Thailand
and Luxembourg. In summary, continuous surveillance of bat virome should be encouraged, as Krau
Reserve Forest reported a wide spectrum of biodiversity of insectivorous and fruit bats. Moreover,
the usage of primers for the broad detection of viruses should be reconsidered because geographical
variations might possibly affect the sensitivity of primers in a molecular approach.
Result Analysis
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