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. 2021 Jan 13;95(3):e01713-20.
doi: 10.1128/JVI.01713-20. Print 2021 Jan 13.

Virome of Bat Guano from Nine Northern California Roosts

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Virome of Bat Guano from Nine Northern California Roosts

Yanpeng Li et al. J Virol. .

Abstract

Bats are hosts to a large variety of viruses, including many capable of cross-species transmissions to other mammals, including humans. We characterized the virome in guano from five common bat species in 9 Northern California roosts and from a pool of 5 individual bats. Genomes belonging to 14 viral families known to infect mammals and 17 viral families infecting insects or of unknown tropism were detected. Nearly complete or complete genomes of a novel parvovirus, astrovirus, nodavirus, circular Rep-encoding single-stranded DNA (CRESS-DNA) viruses, and densoviruses, and more partial genomes of a novel alphacoronavirus and a bunyavirus were characterized. Lower numbers of reads with >90% amino acid identity to previously described calicivirus, circovirus, adenoviruses, hepatovirus, bocaparvoviruses, and polyomavirus in other bat species were also found, likely reflecting their wide distribution among different bats. Unexpectedly, a few sequence reads of canine parvovirus 2 and the recently described mouse kidney parvovirus were also detected and their presence confirmed by PCR; these possibly originated from guano contamination by carnivores and rodents. The majority of eukaryotic viral reads were highly divergent, indicating that numerous viruses still remain to be characterized, even from such a heavily investigated order as Chiroptera.IMPORTANCE Characterizing the bat virome is important for understanding viral diversity and detecting viral spillover between animal species. Using an unbiased metagenomics method, we characterize the virome in guano collected from multiple roosts of common Northern California bat species. We describe several novel viral genomes and report the detection of viruses with close relatives reported in other bat species, likely reflecting cross-species transmissions. Viral sequences from well-known carnivore and rodent parvoviruses were also detected, whose presence are likely the result of contamination from defecation and urination atop guano and which reflect the close interaction of these mammals in the wild.

Keywords: bat virome; emerging viruses; metagenomics.

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Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Locations in northern California of the roosts where the bat guano samples were collected. Bottom left, Point Reyes in Marin County; bottom middle, Davis in Yolo County; bottom right, Sacramento in Sacramento County. (Courtesy of d-maps.com; https://d-maps.com/continent.php?num_con=25&lang=en.).
FIG 2
FIG 2
Summary of the bat-associated viruses. All viral families identified from the 10 bat guano samples with E scores of <10−10. Only those eukaryotic viruses that could potentially infect mammals or insects are shown. Heat map was used to indicate the viral abundance (calculated as reads per million [RPM]), and RPM was displayed in log10 of each family. The numbers of viral families detected from each guano sample are listed at the bottom.
FIG 3
FIG 3
Genome organization of astrovirus and phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood method based on the complete amino acid sequence of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) protein and capsid protein. The blue line indicates the genome coverage we got from this virus. Both Avastrovirus and Mamastrovirus reference genomes were included for phylogenetic analysis.
FIG 4
FIG 4
Genome organization of chaphamaparvovirus and phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood method based on the complete amino acid sequences of the NS1 and VP1 proteins. All currently known reference sequences from the Chaphamaparvovirus genus were included.
FIG 5
FIG 5
Genome organization of coronavirus and phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood method based on the 440-bp RdRp region and contigs from the spike gene. Both alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses were included for the phylogenetic tree.
FIG 6
FIG 6
Genome organization of bat-associated CRESS-DNA WD/RM viruses and bat-associated circular virus RB. The phylogenetic tree was generated using the maximum likelihood method based on the complete amino acid sequence of the Rep protein. Reference sequences from cyclovirus, circovirus, and CRESS-DNA viruses in Circoviridae were included for the phylogenetic tree.
FIG 7
FIG 7
Genome organization of densovirus and phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood method based on the complete amino acid sequences of the NS1 and VP1 proteins. Reference genomes from the Densovirinae subfamily were used for the phylogenetic tree, with adeno-associated virus and canine parvovirus as the outgroup.
FIG 8
FIG 8
Genome organization of nodavirus and phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood method based on the complete amino acid sequences of the RdRp protein (segment 1) and capsid protein (segment 2).
FIG 9
FIG 9
Genome organization of bunyavirus and phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood method based on the amino acid of the largest contig in the L segment.

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