Metagenomic analysis of fecal and tissue samples from 18 endemic bat species in Switzerland revealed a diverse virus composition including potentially zoonotic viruses

• Published in: PLOS ONE
• Main Authors: Hardmeier, Isabelle, Aeberhard, Nadja, Qi, Weihong, Schoenbaechler, Katja, Kraettli, Hubert, Hatt, Jean-Michel, Fraefel, Cornel, Kubacki, Jakub
• Other Authors: Kapoor, Amit, Foundation for Research in Science and Humanities at the University of Zurich
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
• Subjects: Vespertilio murinus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252534; https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252534

Many recent disease outbreaks in humans had a zoonotic virus etiology. Bats in particular have been recognized as reservoirs to a large variety of viruses with the potential to cross-species transmission. In order to assess the risk of bats in Switzerland for such transmissions, we determined the virome of tissue and fecal samples of 14 native and 4 migrating bat species. In total, sequences belonging to 39 different virus families, 16 of which are known to infect vertebrates, were detected. Contigs of coronaviruses, adenoviruses, hepeviruses, rotaviruses A and H, and parvoviruses with potential zoonotic risk were characterized in more detail. Most interestingly, in a ground stool sample of a Vespertilio murinus colony an almost complete genome of a Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was detected by Next generation sequencing and confirmed by PCR. In conclusion, bats in Switzerland naturally harbour many different viruses. Metagenomic analyses of non-invasive samples like ground stool may support effective surveillance and early detection of viral zoonoses.