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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.05.17.444362

SARS-like coronaviruses in horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus spp.) in Russia, 2020.

Alkhovsky, S. V.·Lenshin, S. V.·Romashin, A. V.·Vishnevskaya, T. V.·Vyshemirsky, O. I.·Bulycheva, Y. I.·Lvov, D. K.·Gitelman, A. K.
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Abstract

We found and genetically described two novel SARS-like coronaviruses in feces and oral swabs of the great (R. ferrumequinum) and the lesser (R. hipposideros) horseshoe bats in southern region of Russia. The viruses, named Khosta-1 and Khosta-2, together with related viruses from Bulgaria and Kenya, form a separate phylogenetic lineage. We found an evidence of recombination events in evolutionary history of Khosta-1, which involved the acquisition of structural proteins S, E, and M as well as nonstructural genes ORF3, ORF6, ORF7a, and ORF7b from a virus that is closely related to Kenyan isolate BtKY72. Examination of bats by RT-PCR revealed that 62,5% of great horseshoe bats in one of the caves were positive for Khosta-1 virus while its overall prevalence was 14%. The prevalence of Khosta-2 was 1,75%. Our results show that SARS-like coronaviruses circulate in horseshoe bats in the region and provide a new data on their genetic diversity.

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Alkhovsky, S. V., Lenshin, S. V., Romashin, A. V., Vishnevskaya, T. V., Vyshemirsky, O. I., Bulycheva, Y. I., Lvov, D. K., Gitelman, A. K.. 2021-05-18. SARS-like coronaviruses in horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus spp.) in Russia, 2020.. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.17.444362

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