Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Department of Zoology, Entomology and Fisheries Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Viruses. 2019 Mar 2;11(3):209. doi: 10.3390/v11030209.
While serological and virological evidence documents the exposure of bats to medically-important arboviruses, their role as reservoirs or amplifying hosts is less well-characterized. We describe a novel orbivirus () isolated from an Egyptian fruit bat () trapped in 2013 in Uganda and named Bukakata orbivirus. This is the fifth orbivirus isolated from a bat, however genetic information had previously only been available for one bat-associated orbivirus. We performed whole-genome sequencing on Bukakata orbivirus and three other bat-associated orbiviruses (Fomede, Ife, and Japanaut) to assess their phylogenetic relationship within the genus and develop hypotheses regarding potential arthropod vectors. Replication kinetics were assessed for Bukakata orbivirus in three different vertebrate cell lines. Lastly, qRT-PCR and nested PCR were used to determine the prevalence of Bukakata orbivirus RNA in archived samples from three populations of Egyptian fruit bats and one population of cave-associated soft ticks in Uganda. Complete coding sequences were obtained for all ten segments of Fomede, Ife, and Japanaut orbiviruses and for nine of the ten segments for Bukakata orbivirus. Phylogenetic analysis placed Bukakata and Fomede in the tick-borne orbivirus clade and Ife and Japanaut within the /phlebotomine sandfly orbivirus clade. Further, Bukakata and Fomede appear to be serotypes of the species. Bukakata orbivirus replicated to high titers (10⁶⁻10⁷ PFU/mL) in Vero, BHK-21 [C-13], and R06E (Egyptian fruit bat) cells. Preliminary screening of archived bat and tick samples do not support Bukakata orbivirus presence in these collections, however additional testing is warranted given the phylogenetic associations observed. This study provided complete coding sequence for several bat-associated orbiviruses and in vitro characterization of a bat-associated orbivirus. Our results indicate that bats may play an important role in the epidemiology of viruses in the genus and further investigation is warranted into vector-host associations and ongoing surveillance efforts.
虽然血清学和病毒学证据表明蝙蝠接触了对医学很重要的虫媒病毒，但它们作为储存宿主或扩增宿主的作用还不太清楚。我们描述了一种从 2013 年在乌干达捕获的埃及果蝠中分离出来的新型环状病毒（），并将其命名为布卡塔环状病毒。这是从蝙蝠中分离出来的第五种环状病毒，但以前只有一种与蝙蝠相关的环状病毒的遗传信息可用。我们对布卡塔环状病毒和其他三种与蝙蝠相关的环状病毒（Fomede、Ife 和 Japanaut）进行了全基因组测序，以评估它们在属内的系统发育关系，并提出关于潜在节肢动物媒介的假设。在三种不同的脊椎动物细胞系中评估了布卡塔环状病毒的复制动力学。最后，使用 qRT-PCR 和嵌套 PCR 来确定布卡塔环状病毒 RNA 在乌干达三个埃及果蝠种群和一个洞穴相关软蜱种群的存档样本中的流行情况。获得了 Fomede、Ife 和 Japanaut 环状病毒的所有十个片段以及布卡塔环状病毒的九个片段的完整编码序列。系统发育分析将布卡塔和 Fomede 置于蜱传环状病毒分支，而 Ife 和 Japanaut 则位于 / 白蛉沙蝇环状病毒分支。此外，布卡塔和 Fomede 似乎是 物种的血清型。布卡塔环状病毒在 Vero、BHK-21[C-13]和 R06E（埃及果蝠）细胞中复制到高滴度（10⁶-10⁷ PFU/mL）。对存档蝙蝠和蜱样本的初步筛选不支持这些样本中存在布卡塔环状病毒，但鉴于观察到的系统发育关联，需要进一步测试。本研究提供了几种与蝙蝠相关的环状病毒的完整编码序列，并对一种与蝙蝠相关的环状病毒进行了体外表征。我们的结果表明，蝙蝠可能在 属病毒的流行病学中发挥重要作用，需要进一步调查媒介-宿主关系和正在进行的监测工作。
