Cholleti Harindranath, de Jong Johnny, Blomström Anne-Lie, Berg Mikael
Section of Virology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), P.O. Box 7028, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Swedish Biodiversity Centre (CBM), SLU, P.O. Box 7016, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Pathogens. 2022 Dec 21;12(1):12. doi: 10.3390/pathogens12010012.
Bats are reservoirs for many different viruses, including some that can be transmitted to and cause disease in humans and/or animals. However, less is known about the bat-borne viruses circulating in Northern European countries such as in Sweden. In this study, saliva from bats, collected from south-central Sweden, was analyzed for viruses. The metagenomic analysis identified viral sequences belonging to different viral families, including, e.g., , , , and . Interestingly, through the data analysis, the near-complete genome of Issyk-Kul virus (ISKV), a zoonotic virus within the family, was obtained, showing 95-99% protein sequence identity to previously described ISKVs. This virus is believed to infect humans via an intermediate tick host or through contact with bat excrete. ISKV has previously been found in bats in Europe, but not previously in the Nordic region. In addition, near full-length genomes of two novel viruses belonging to order and family were characterized. Taken together, our study has not only identified novel viruses, but also the presence of a zoonotic virus not previously known to circulate in this region. Thus, the results from these types of studies can help us to better understand the diversity of viruses circulating in bat populations, as well as identify viruses with zoonotic potential that could possibly be transmitted to humans.
蝙蝠是多种不同病毒的宿主，包括一些可传播给人类和/或动物并导致疾病的病毒。然而，对于在瑞典等北欧国家传播的蝙蝠携带病毒，我们了解得较少。在本研究中，对从瑞典中南部采集的蝙蝠唾液进行了病毒分析。宏基因组分析确定了属于不同病毒科的病毒序列，包括例如 、 、 、 和 。有趣的是，通过数据分析，获得了吉尔吉斯湖病毒（ISKV）的近乎完整基因组，该病毒是 科内的一种人畜共患病毒，与先前描述的ISKVs的蛋白质序列同一性为95-99%。据信这种病毒通过中间蜱宿主或与蝙蝠排泄物接触感染人类。ISKV此前在欧洲的蝙蝠中被发现，但在北欧地区此前尚未发现。此外，还对属于 目和 科的两种新型病毒的近乎全长基因组进行了表征。综上所述，我们的研究不仅发现了新型病毒，还发现了该地区此前未知的一种人畜共患病毒的存在。因此，这类研究的结果有助于我们更好地了解蝙蝠种群中传播的病毒多样性，并识别可能传播给人类的具有人畜共患病潜力的病毒。
