1. Genetic diversity and phylogenetic analysis of newly discovered bat astroviruses in Korea
- Author
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Yongkwan Kim, Kim Yong-Sik, Jae-Ku Oem, Sook-Young Lee, Seung-Jun Wang, Weon-Hwa Jheong, and Kidong Son
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,animal structures ,viruses ,Zoology ,Astrovirus ,03 medical and health sciences ,Viral Proteins ,fluids and secretions ,Phylogenetics ,Virology ,Astroviridae Infections ,Chiroptera ,Republic of Korea ,Animals ,Natural reservoir ,Myotis macrodactylus ,Phylogeny ,Genetic diversity ,Phylogenetic tree ,biology ,Miniopterus ,Rhinolophus ferrumequinum ,virus diseases ,Genetic Variation ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase ,030104 developmental biology ,Astroviridae ,Original Article - Abstract
Bats have been identified as a natural reservoir for several potentially zoonotic viruses. Recently, astroviruses have been reported in bats in many countries, but not Korea. We collected 363 bat samples from thirteen species at twenty-nine sites in Korea across 2016 and tested them for astrovirus. The detection of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene in bat astroviruses was confirmed in thirty-four bats across four bat species in Korea: twenty-five from Miniopterus fuliginosusi, one from Myotis macrodactylus, four from M. petax, and four from Rhinolophus ferrumequinum. The highest detection rates for astrovirus were found in Sunchang (61.5%, 8/13 bats), and in the samples collected in April (63.2%, 12/19 bats). The amino acid identity of astroviral sequences identified from bat samples was ≥ 46.6%. More specifically, the amino acid identity within multiple clones from individual bats was ≥ 50.8%. Additionally, the phylogenetic topology between astroviruses from different bat families showed a close relationship. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis of the partial ORF2 sequence of bat astroviruses was found to have a maximum similarity of 73.3–74.8% with available bat astrovirus sequences. These results indicate potential multiple-infection by several bat astrovirus species in individual bats, or hyperpolymorphism in the astrovirus strains, as well as the transmission of astroviruses across bat families; furthermore, our phylogenetic analysis of the partial ORF2 implied that a novel astrovirus may exist. However, the wide diversity of astroviral sequences appeared to have no significant correlation with bat species or the spatiotemporal distribution of Korean bat astroviruses.
- Published
- 2018