OBJECTIVETo evaluate the susceptibility of Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus to oral infection with bat Japanese encephalitis virus isolates (GD1 and HN2 strains).

METHODSAedes albopictus and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus were infected orally by GD1 and HN2 strains of bat Japanese encephalitis virus. TaqMan real-time PCR was used to detect the virus and monitor the changes in the viral loads in Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus at a 2-day interval, starting from 4 days till 20 days after the infection.

RESULTSThe infected Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus were found positive for the Japanese encephalitis virus from day 4 to day 20. Both Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus were susceptible to infection by GD1 and HN2 strains, but the latter showed a greater susceptibility. The HN2 strain virus appeared to have a greater virulence than the GD1 strain.

CONCLUSIONAedes albopictus and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus can carry GD1 and HN2 strains of bat Japanese encephalitis virus isolates.

Aedes ; virology ; Animals ; Chiroptera ; virology ; Culex ; virology ; Disease Susceptibility ; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese ; isolation & purification

Bat, the only flying mammal and count more than 20% of the extant mammals on earth, were recently identified as a natural reservoir of emerging and reemerging infectious pathogens. Astonishing amount (more than 70) and genetic diversity of viruses isolated from the bat have been identified in different populations throughout the world. Many studies focus on bat viruses that caused severe domestic and human diseases. However, many viruses were found in apparently healthy bats, suggesting that bats may have a specific immune system or antiviral activity against virus infections. Therefore, basic researches for bat immunology and virus-host interactions are important for understanding bat-derived infectious diseases.
Animals ; Chiroptera ; classification ; virology ; Communicable Diseases, Emerging ; virology ; Disease Reservoirs ; virology ; Genetic Variation ; Humans ; Viruses ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification

Adenovirus remains a significant threat to public health. Recent studies showed that bats can harbor diverse adenoviruses. To further investigate the distribution and genetic diversity of bat adenoviruses in China, we collected throat and anal swab samples of 11 bat species from 6 provinces of China, including Beijing, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan. Nested PCR was used to identify potential bat adenoviruses from the samples, and positive results were cloned and sequenced for genetic diversity study. In addition, nucleotide sequence alignments based on corresponding amino acid sequence similarities were used for phylogenetic analyses. Our results showed that about 20% of bat species in China are positive to adenoviruses, and Myotis ricketti is likely to be the most important host of bat adenoviruses in all locations. Moreover, we identified two diverse sequences of bat adenoviruses from the same sample of Ia io in Guizhou province of China. In general, the average nucleotide and amino acid sequence similarities of the conserved region of DNA polymerases of bat adenoviruses are 66.6% and 74.7%, respectively. The differences between bat species and their residences environments may have driven the adaptive evolution of the viruses, leading to the genetic diversity of the bat adenoviruses.
Adenoviridae ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; physiology ; Animals ; China ; Chiroptera ; virology ; Genetic Variation ; Host Specificity ; Phylogeny

A novel H17N10 subtype of the influenza A viruses was found in bats in 2012. Protein sequence and structural analyses revealed that the HA17 and NA10 proteins of this strain are different from corresponding ones in known influenza A subtype viruses. Both HA17 and NA10 proteins cannot bind to sialic acid,which indicates that they may have novel functions. This article briefly describes the state of current research into the H17N10 subtype of bat influenza A virus.
Animals ; Chiroptera ; virology ; Influenza A virus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Orthomyxoviridae Infections ; veterinary ; virology ; Viral Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of serum antibodies against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in bats.

METHODSBlood samples from the heart were obtained from bats captured in Guangdong and Hainan Provinces in 2013. The anti-JEV antibodies in bat sera were tested using indirect ELISA and virus neutralization test.

RESULTSA total of 201 bat serum samples were tested, in which the total positivity rate of anti-JEV antibodies was 46.27% (93/201). The positive rate of anti-JEV antibodies in bats from Hainan and Guangdong Provinces was 88.89% (48/54) and 30.61% (45/147), respectively. All the samples from Rousettus leschenaultia, Miniopterus schreibersii, Pipistrellus abramus, and Rhinolophus macrotis were positive for anti-JEV antibodies, and up to 95.56% (43/45) of the samples from Miniopterus schreibersii (from Hainan Province) yielded positive results. Of the 28 samples with positive results by indirect ELISA, 15 showed positive results in virus neutralization test (53.57%) with neutralization antibody titers ranging from 1:10 to 1:28.22.

CONCLUSIONBats from different regions and of different species can be naturally infected with JEV and have a high prevalence of anti-JEV antibodies in their sera. The role of bats in the natural cycle of JEV awaits further study.

Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; China ; Chiroptera ; immunology ; virology ; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Neutralization Tests

OBJECTIVETo develop an simple and sensitive method for detecting anti-coronavirus IgG antibodies in bat sera based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

METHODSA commercial ELISA kit for detecting SARS-CoV antibody was modified for detecting coronavirus antibodies in bat serum samples. The second antibody in the kit was replaced with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated protein-A (HRP-SPA) based on the characteristics of binding between Staphylococcus aureus protein A (SPA) and mammal IgG Fc fragment. The sera of 55 fulvous fruit bats (Rousettus dasymallus) were tested using the SPA-ELISA.

RESULTSThe test results of the positive and negative controls in the kit and the serum samples from convalescent ;patient were consistent with expectation. Coronavirus antibody was detected in 2 out of the 55 bat serum samples. Serum neutralization test confirmed the validity of the SPA-ELISA method.

CONCLUSIONThis SPA-ELISA method is applicable for detecting coronavirus antibody in bat sera.

Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Chiroptera ; virology ; Coronavirus ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; methods ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a total of 55 928 327 confirmed cases and 1 344 003 deaths as of November 19, 2020. But so far the origin of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes this pandemic has remained undetermined. The purpose of this study is to review the current research of SARS-CoV-2 and the existing problems therein, which may provide inspiration for further researches. Existing evidence suggested that SARS-CoV-2 may be derived from bat coronavirus 40-70 years ago. During the evolution, this virus underwent extensive variations in the process of mutations and natural selection. Different genomic regions of SARS-CoV-2 may have different selection pressures, but all of which increase the difficulty of tracing the origin of this virus. A wide variety of animals have been considered as potential hosts of SARS-CoV-2, including cats, lions, tigers, dogs and minks. SARS-CoV-2 has a chance to transmit from humans to animals and can be transmitted among animals. Current research evidence has shown that China is not the original source of SARS-CoV-2. It is still unclear how the virus spreads to human, and efforts are still need to be made to explore the origin of SARS-CoV-2, its hosts and intermediate hosts, and the mechanism of its transmission across different species of animals.
Animals ; COVID-19/transmission* ; Cats ; China ; Chiroptera/virology* ; Disease Vectors ; Dogs ; Evolution, Molecular ; Humans ; SARS-CoV-2/classification*

Bats are considered as important animal reservoirs for many pathogenic viruses to humans. The viral metagenomic analysis was performed to study gut and lung tissues of 30 insectivorous bats collected in Yunnan Province and 26 reads were noted to group A rotavirus (RVA). Further RT-PCR screening on bat samples and in vitro viral isolation on cell cultures confirmed the presence of a novel RVA, named as RVA/Bat-tc/MYAS33/2013/G3P[10], in one of 30 Stoliczka's trident bats. The VP7 gene of this strain MYAS33 was closely related to that of an equine RVA strain from Argentina and the nucleotide sequence similarity was 93%, while its VP4 gene was a rare P[10] type and obtained the maximum sequence identity (94.8%) with that of a human strain from Thailand. The present study highlights the potential role of bats as reservoirs for RVAs.
Animals ; China ; Chiroptera ; virology ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Rotavirus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; ultrastructure ; Rotavirus Infections ; veterinary ; virology ; Viral Proteins ; genetics

Bats are important reservoir animals and more than 60 viruses have been identified in bats with many of them highly pathogenic to human. In order to understand the natural background, genetic diversity of bat viruses in China and discover potential viral pathogens, Solexa sequencing based viral metagenomics focusing on bats tissues was established and to analyze the virome of bats collected from Jilin, Yunnan and Hunan province. By Solexa sequencing, 116 442 324 useful reads were obtained and assembled into 4 872 contigs, of which 8.2% (4 002/4 4872) were annotated to 36 viral families, including 19 vertebrate virus families, 6 plant virus families, 4 insect virus families and 4 phages. Further contigs analyses showed that some adenovirus, bocavirus, picobirnavirus, parvovirus contigs sequences were similar with known viruses. However, part of them shared limited identities to these viruses implying the discovery of new viruses. Moreover, PCR validation of adenovirus and bocavirus confirmed the results obtained by viral metagenomics. This study aimed to understand bat virome in China by viral metagenomics and could be helpful to establish effective surveillance on wildlife-associate zoonoses.
Adenoviridae ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Animals ; Bunyaviridae ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; China ; Chiroptera ; virology ; Genome, Viral ; genetics ; Metagenome ; genetics ; Metagenomics ; methods ; Picornaviridae ; genetics ; isolation & purification

Animals ; Chiroptera ; virology ; Coronavirus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Coronavirus Infections ; transmission ; virology ; Databases, Genetic ; Genome, Viral ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Middle East ; Phylogeny ; SARS Virus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; virology