Bat reservoirs related to SARS-CoV-2

Letter to the Editor

 

Bat reservoirs related to SARS-CoV-2

Reservorios de murciélagos relacionados con el SARS-CoV-2

 

Sebastián Iglesias-Osores1* https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4984-4656

 

1Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas. Universidad Nacional Pedro Ruiz Gallo. Lambayeque, Perú.

*Correspondencia. Correo electrónico:sebasiglo@gmail.com, siglesias@unprg.edu.pe

 

 

Dear Editor,

Bats are mammals documented to be infected by coronavirus SARS-like related to SARS-CoV-2 which cause COVID-19.(1) Bats represent about 20% of all classified mammal species, over 1,200 species. They are largely fruit-eating, seed dispersers and pollinators around the wold,(2) this made this species important in the ecosystems ecology.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declarated in december 2019, the search for origins was found in sequencing of coronavirus related to bats. This suggests that these animals may be long-term reservoir host for the coronavirus SARS-like betacoronaviruses and may recombine between species of bats.(1) The species of bats related to the coronavirus SARS-like are Rhinolophus affinis and Rhinolophus sinicus and are distributed principally in China, Europe and Africa (Fig. 1).(3) The sequences of new coronavirus has been submitted to GISAID and GenBank. The most emparented coronavirus SARS-like is BetaCoV/bat/Yunnan/RaTG13/2013 found in Rhinolophus affinis with 96.2% (accession MN996532) similarity with WH-Human_1 (SARS-CoV-2) (accession MN908947) (Fig. 2) the first sequencing sample in humans, although the SARS-CoV-2 was closer to the bat_SL_CoVZC45 (accession MG772933) and the bat_SL_CoVZXC21 (accession MG772934) both found in Rhinolophus sinicus.(3) The genus Rhinolophus (horseshoe bats) in the family Rhinolophidae demonstrated a high posibility to be the host of SARS-like betacoronaviruses(4) and could cause a future disease outbreak. We have to focus on possible mutations and hosts that may cause pandemics in the future and their zoonotic role.

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAFIC REFERENCES

1. Zhou P, Yang X Lou, Wang XG, Hu B, Zhang L, Zhang W, et al. A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature. 2020 Mar 12;579(7798):270-3.

2. Hodgkison R, Balding ST, Zubaid A, Kunz TH. Fruit Bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) as Seed Dispersers and Pollinators in a Lowland Malaysian Rain Forest1. Biotropica. 2003 Dec [access: 04/05/2020];35(4):491-502. Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2003.tb00606.x

3. Hu D, Zhu C, Ai L, He T, Wang Y, Ye F, et al. Genomic characterization and infectivity of a novel SARS-like coronavirus in Chinese bats. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2018 Dec 1;7(1):1-10.

4. Li W, Shi Z, Yu M, Ren W, Smith C, Epstein JH, et al. Bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-like coronaviruses. Science (80-). 2005 Oct 28;310(5748):676-9.

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