Novel Betaherpesviruses in Neotropical Bats on the Caribbean Island of St. Kitts: First Report from Antillean Tree Bats ( Ardops nichollsi ) and Evidence for Cross-Species Transmission.

To date, limited information is available on herpesviruses in bats from the Caribbean region. We report here high detection rates (24.24%, n = 66) of herpesviruses in oral samples from apparently healthy bats ( Ardops nichollsi (75%, 9/12) and Molossus molossus (28%, 7/25)) on the Lesser Antillean Island of St. Kitts. Based on analysis of partial DNA polymerase (DPOL) sequences (~225 amino acid (aa) residues), we identified two distinct groups of herpesviruses (BO-I and -II) that were unique to A. nichollsi and M. molossus , respectively. Within the subfamily Betaherpesvirinae , the BO-I DPOL sequences shared low deduced aa identities (<70%) with other herpesviruses, and phylogenetically, they formed a distinct cluster, representing a putative novel betaherpesvirus. The BO-II DPOL sequences were closely related to a putative novel betaherpesvirus from a M. molossus in Lesser Antillean Island of Martinique, indicating possible transmission of herpesviruses by bat movement between the Caribbean Islands. Phylogenetically, the BO-I and -II betaherpesviruses exhibited species-specific ( A. nichollsi and M. molossus , respectively) as well as family-specific ( Phyllostomidae and Molossidae , respectively) clustering patterns, corroborating the hypothesis on host specificity of betaherpesviruses. Interestingly, a single M. molossus betaherpesvirus strain clustered with the A. nichollsi betaherpesviruses, indicating possible interspecies transmission of herpesviruses between Phyllostomidae and Molossidae . To our knowledge, this is the first report on detection of herpesviruses from Antillean tree bats ( A. nichollsi ), expanding the host range of betaherpesviruses. Taken together, the present study identified putative novel betaherpesviruses that might be unique to chiropteran species ( A. nichollsi and M. molossus) , indicating virus-host coevolution, and provided evidence for interspecies transmission of betaherpesviruses between chiropteran families.