Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology, Virology Unit, Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Centre for Cartography of Fauna and Flora, Ljubljana office, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Jun 29;17(6):e0011420. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011420. eCollection 2023 Jun.
Lyssaviruses are the causative agents of rabies, a zoonotic, fatal disease that is thought to be ancestral to bats. In the last decade, the detection of bat associated lyssaviruses is increasing also in Europe. Within a retrospective bat associated lyssavirus surveillance study a total of 225 dead bats of 21 bat species were collected in Slovenia between 2012 and 2019 and tested by specific real-time RT-PCR method. The first lyssavirus positive sample in bats in Slovenia was detected using the real-time RT-PCR, the fluorescent antibody test, and next generation sequencing, while the rabies tissue culture inoculation test was unsuccessful due to sample degradation and storage conditions. The nearly complete genome of Divača bat lyssavirus from Slovenia consists of 11,871 nucleotides and reflects the characteristic gene organization known for lyssaviruses, encoding the five viral proteins. Phylogenetic analysis of Divača bat lyssavirus revealed that it belongs to phylogroup I lyssaviruses and is most closely related to Kotalahti bat lyssavirus (KBLV) with 87.20% nucleotide and 99.22% amino acid identity. Together with KBLV, Khujand virus, European bat lyssavirus 2, Bakeloh bat lyssavirus, and Aravan virus, Divača bat lyssavirus was detected in the genus Myotis suggesting its key role in the transmission and maintenance of certain lyssaviruses.
狂犬病病毒是狂犬病的病原体，狂犬病是一种由动物传播的致命疾病，据认为其起源于蝙蝠。在过去十年中，在欧洲也越来越多地检测到与蝙蝠相关的狂犬病病毒。在一项回顾性蝙蝠相关狂犬病病毒监测研究中，2012 年至 2019 年期间，在斯洛文尼亚共收集了 21 种蝙蝠的 225 只死亡蝙蝠，并通过特定的实时 RT-PCR 方法进行了检测。斯洛文尼亚首例蝙蝠中狂犬病病毒阳性样本是通过实时 RT-PCR、荧光抗体试验和下一代测序检测到的，而由于样本降解和储存条件，狂犬病组织培养接种试验不成功。来自斯洛文尼亚的 Divača 蝙蝠狂犬病病毒的近完整基因组由 11871 个核苷酸组成，反映了已知狂犬病病毒的特征基因组织，编码五个病毒蛋白。Divača 蝙蝠狂犬病病毒的系统进化分析表明，它属于 I 群狂犬病病毒，与 Kotalahti 蝙蝠狂犬病病毒（KBLV）的核苷酸和氨基酸同一性分别为 87.20%和 99.22%。与 KBLV、Khujand 病毒、欧洲蝙蝠狂犬病病毒 2 型、Bakeloh 蝙蝠狂犬病病毒和 Aravan 病毒一起，Divača 蝙蝠狂犬病病毒在 Myotis 属中被检测到，表明其在某些狂犬病病毒的传播和维持中起着关键作用。
