High host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in Nearctic, insectivorous bats
Abstract Bats are reservoir hosts for a number of coronaviruses, some of which may pose spillover risks for humans and other animals. We detected two alphacoronaviruses in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) in Ontario, Canada. These viruses are closely relat...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | npj Viruses |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-025-00115-y |
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| author | Jonathon D. Kotwa Arkadeb Bhuinya Winfield Yim Giulia Gallo Pahul Singh Qiang Liu Anil Kumar Emily Chien Aaron Hou Hsien-Yao Chee Juliette Blais-Savoie Lily Yip Valerie Von Zuben K. Aidan Wouters Vikram Misra Oliver Lung Dalan Bailey Finlay Maguire Arinjay Banerjee Samira Mubareka Christina M. Davy |
| author_facet | Jonathon D. Kotwa Arkadeb Bhuinya Winfield Yim Giulia Gallo Pahul Singh Qiang Liu Anil Kumar Emily Chien Aaron Hou Hsien-Yao Chee Juliette Blais-Savoie Lily Yip Valerie Von Zuben K. Aidan Wouters Vikram Misra Oliver Lung Dalan Bailey Finlay Maguire Arinjay Banerjee Samira Mubareka Christina M. Davy |
| author_sort | Jonathon D. Kotwa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Bats are reservoir hosts for a number of coronaviruses, some of which may pose spillover risks for humans and other animals. We detected two alphacoronaviruses in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) in Ontario, Canada. These viruses are closely related to other coronaviruses circulating in bats in North America and also distantly related to human and swine coronaviruses. We found high similarity in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in viruses derived from the same species of bat, but markedly lower in those derived from other species. We also functionally characterized the accessory protein ORF3 finding that ORF3 inhibited both IFNβ production and signaling. Our study provides insights into coronavirus diversity in bats in a previously under-sampled region. This work provides a baseline for in-depth surveillance to characterize the transmission dynamics of endemic coronaviruses in free-ranging wildlife, and for exploring the evolutionary relationships between coronaviruses and their hosts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8648b8dc91e14c08a1142a9f1e00057f |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2948-1767 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Viruses |
| spelling | doaj-art-8648b8dc91e14c08a1142a9f1e00057f2025-08-20T02:20:23ZengNature Portfolionpj Viruses2948-17672025-04-013111410.1038/s44298-025-00115-yHigh host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in Nearctic, insectivorous batsJonathon D. Kotwa0Arkadeb Bhuinya1Winfield Yim2Giulia Gallo3Pahul Singh4Qiang Liu5Anil Kumar6Emily Chien7Aaron Hou8Hsien-Yao Chee9Juliette Blais-Savoie10Lily Yip11Valerie Von Zuben12K. Aidan Wouters13Vikram Misra14Oliver Lung15Dalan Bailey16Finlay Maguire17Arinjay Banerjee18Samira Mubareka19Christina M. Davy20Sunnybrook Research InstituteVaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of SaskatchewanSunnybrook Research InstituteThe Pirbright InstituteVaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of SaskatchewanVaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of SaskatchewanDepartment of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of SaskatchewanSunnybrook Research InstituteSunnybrook Research InstituteSunnybrook Research InstituteSunnybrook Research InstituteSunnybrook Research InstituteWildlife Research and Monitoring Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and ForestryDepartment of Biology, Carleton UniversityDepartment of Veterinary Microbiology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of SaskatchewanNational Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Canadian Food Inspection AgencyThe Pirbright InstituteFaculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie UniversityVaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of SaskatchewanSunnybrook Research InstituteWildlife Research and Monitoring Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and ForestryAbstract Bats are reservoir hosts for a number of coronaviruses, some of which may pose spillover risks for humans and other animals. We detected two alphacoronaviruses in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) in Ontario, Canada. These viruses are closely related to other coronaviruses circulating in bats in North America and also distantly related to human and swine coronaviruses. We found high similarity in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in viruses derived from the same species of bat, but markedly lower in those derived from other species. We also functionally characterized the accessory protein ORF3 finding that ORF3 inhibited both IFNβ production and signaling. Our study provides insights into coronavirus diversity in bats in a previously under-sampled region. This work provides a baseline for in-depth surveillance to characterize the transmission dynamics of endemic coronaviruses in free-ranging wildlife, and for exploring the evolutionary relationships between coronaviruses and their hosts.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-025-00115-y |
| spellingShingle | Jonathon D. Kotwa Arkadeb Bhuinya Winfield Yim Giulia Gallo Pahul Singh Qiang Liu Anil Kumar Emily Chien Aaron Hou Hsien-Yao Chee Juliette Blais-Savoie Lily Yip Valerie Von Zuben K. Aidan Wouters Vikram Misra Oliver Lung Dalan Bailey Finlay Maguire Arinjay Banerjee Samira Mubareka Christina M. Davy High host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in Nearctic, insectivorous bats npj Viruses |
| title | High host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in Nearctic, insectivorous bats |
| title_full | High host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in Nearctic, insectivorous bats |
| title_fullStr | High host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in Nearctic, insectivorous bats |
| title_full_unstemmed | High host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in Nearctic, insectivorous bats |
| title_short | High host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in Nearctic, insectivorous bats |
| title_sort | high host specificity of alphacoronaviruses in nearctic insectivorous bats |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-025-00115-y |
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