Alphacoronaviruses Detected in French Bats Are Phylogeographically Linked to Coronaviruses of European Bats

• Published in: Viruses
• Main Authors: Goffard, Anne, Demanche, Christine, Arthur, Laurent, Pinçon, Claire, Michaux, Johan, J., Dubuisson, Jean
• Other Authors: Centre d’Infection et d’Immunité de Lille - INSERM U 1019 - UMR 9017 - UMR 8204 (CIIL), Institut Pasteur de Lille, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Lille-Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire CHU Lille (CHRU Lille)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Bourges, Evaluation des technologies de santé et des pratiques médicales - ULR 2694 (METRICS), Université de Lille-Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire CHU Lille (CHRU Lille), Université de Liège, Université de Lille, We thank René Courcol, which allowed us to use the facilities of molecular biology platform of the Microbiology Institute of the Biology Pathology Centre of University Hospital of Lille. We are grateful to Anny Dewilde for providing the CoV positive sample as control of pan-coronavirus RT-PCR development. We thank especially Cécile-Marie Aliouat and Annie Standaert who facilitate the contacts between collaborators.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: Europe; molecular characterization; phylogenetic analysis; phylogeographic analysis; coronavirus; alphacoronavirus; bats; [SDV.MP.VIR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Virology; [SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics; Phylogenetics and taxonomy; Pipistrellus pipistrellus
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02266758; https://hal.science/hal-02266758/document; https://hal.science/hal-02266758/file/viruses-07-02937.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3390/v7122937

International audience Bats are a reservoir for a diverse range of viruses, including coronaviruses (CoVs). To determine the presence of CoVs in French bats, fecal samples were collected between July and August of 2014 from four bat species in seven different locations around the city of Bourges in France. We present for the first time the presence of alpha-CoVs in French Pipistrellus pipistrellus bat species with an estimated prevalence of 4.2%. Based on the analysis of a fragment of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene, phylogenetic analyses show that alpha-CoVs sequences detected in French bats are closely related to other European bat alpha-CoVs. Phylogeographic analyses of RdRp sequences show that several CoVs strains circulate in European bats: (i) old strains detected that have probably diverged a long time ago and are detected in different bat subspecies; (ii) strains detected in Myotis and Pipistrellus bat species that have more recently diverged. Our findings support previous observations describing the complexity of the detected CoVs in bats worldwide