Department of Sciences, University Roma Tre, Viale Guglielmo Marconi 446, 00146, Rome, Italy; Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
Department of Virology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Lombardia ed Emilia Romagna, Via Antonio Bianchi 9, 25124, Brescia, Italy.
Virus Res. 2019 Jan 15;260:60-66. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2018.11.007. Epub 2018 Nov 15.
Coronaviruses (CoVs) have been detected worldwide in several bat species, which are considered the main reservoir. The attention to the high diversity of CoVs hosted by bats has increased during the last decade due to the high number of human infections caused by two zoonotic Beta-CoVs, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, that cause several respiratory diseases. Among coronaviruses, two Alpha-CoV strains (HuCoV-229E and HuCoV-NL63) cause mild respiratory disease that can change to severe disease in children, elderly and individuals affected by illnesses. Phylogenetic analysis conducted on bat Alpha-CoV strains revealed their evolutive correlation to human strains, suggesting their origin in bats. The genome of CoVs is characterized by a high frequency of mutations and recombination events, increasing their ability to switch hosts and their zoonotic potential. In this study, three strains of Alpha-CoV genera detected in Italian bats (Pipistrellus kuhlii) were fully sequenced by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and characterized. The complete genome analysis showed the correlation of the Italians strains with a Chinese strain detected in 2013 and, based on CoV molecular species demarcation, two new Alpha-CoV species were established. The analysis of a fragment of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) showed the correlation of the Italian strains with CoVs that was only detected in the bat Pipistrellus genera (Pipistrellus kuhlii and Pipistrellus Pipistrellus) in European countries.
冠状病毒（CoVs）已在世界范围内的几种蝙蝠物种中被检测到，这些蝙蝠被认为是主要的宿主。由于两种人畜共患的β冠状病毒（SARS-CoV 和 MERS-CoV）引起了大量人类感染，导致了几种呼吸道疾病，因此，蝙蝠携带的 CoV 高度多样性引起了人们的关注。在冠状病毒中，两种α冠状病毒（HuCoV-229E 和 HuCoV-NL63）引起轻度呼吸道疾病，在儿童、老年人和患有疾病的个体中可能会发展为严重疾病。对蝙蝠α冠状病毒株进行的系统进化分析表明，它们与人类株具有进化相关性，提示它们起源于蝙蝠。CoV 的基因组具有高频突变和重组事件的特征，这增加了它们切换宿主的能力和人畜共患的潜力。在这项研究中，通过下一代测序（NGS）对意大利蝙蝠（Pipistrellus kuhlii）中检测到的三种α冠状病毒属进行了全基因组测序和特征分析。完整基因组分析表明，意大利株与 2013 年在中国检测到的一株具有相关性，并且根据 CoV 分子种的划分，建立了两种新的α冠状病毒种。对 RNA 依赖性 RNA 聚合酶（RdRp）片段的分析表明，意大利株与仅在欧洲国家的蝙蝠属（Pipistrellus kuhlii 和 Pipistrellus Pipistrellus）中检测到的 CoVs 具有相关性。
