Can Bats Serve as Reservoirs for Arboviruses?

Fagre, Anna C.; Kading, Rebekah C.

doi:10.3390/v11030215

Cited by 59 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 152 publications

(173 reference statements)

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“…A p-value of <0.05 indicates that the difference is statistically significant (95% confidence interval). The lower free energy of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein may result from the virus evolution or adaption to hosts because SARS-like coronaviruses normally originate from bats that are known to have a higher body temperature than humans [50][51][52]. In other words, SARS-CoV-2 and other SARS-like coronaviruses would have evolved to achieve a lower free energy for their spike proteins by recombination or mutations so that they can survive in high-temperature animals like bats [1].…”

Section: The Rbd-ace2 Interaction: Sars-cov-2 Binds Ace2 With Higher mentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Mechanism of Evolution and Human Infection with SARS-CoV-2

Tao

Yan

et al. 2020

Viruses

153

190

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The outbreak of a novel coronavirus, which was later formally named the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a worldwide public health crisis. Previous studies showed that SARS-CoV-2 is highly homologous to SARS-CoV and infects humans through the binding of the spike protein to ACE2. Here, we have systematically studied the molecular mechanisms of human infection with SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV by protein-protein docking and MD simulations. It was found that SARS-CoV-2 binds ACE2 with a higher affinity than SARS-CoV, which may partly explain that SARS-CoV-2 is much more infectious than SARS-CoV. In addition, the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 has a significantly lower free energy than that of SARS-CoV, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 is more stable and may survive a higher temperature than SARS-CoV. This provides insights into the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 because SARS-like coronaviruses have originated in bats. Our computation also suggested that the RBD-ACE2 binding for SARS-CoV-2 is much more temperature-sensitive than that for SARS-CoV. Thus, it is expected that SARS-CoV-2 would decrease its infection ability much faster than SARS-CoV when the temperature rises. These findings would be beneficial for the disease prevention and drug/vaccine development of SARS-CoV-2.Viruses 2020, 12, 428 2 of 11 origin and is 96% identical at the whole-genome level to a bat SARS-like coronavirus [22]. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 is also closely related to other SARS-like coronaviruses and shares a 79.5% sequence identity to SARS-CoV [22]. For some encoded proteins like coronavirus main proteinase (3CLpro), papain-like protease (PLpro), and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), the sequence identity is even higher and can be as high as 96% between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV [23]. Therefore, it was thought that SARS-CoV-2 would function in a similar way to SARS-CoV in the human-infection and pathogenic mechanism [22][23][24].Coronaviruses use the surface spike (S) glycoprotein on the coronavirus envelope to attach host cells and mediate host cell membrane and viral membrane fusion during infection [25]. The spike protein includes two regions, S1 and S2, where S1 is for host cell receptor binding and S2 is for membrane fusion. The S1 region also includes an N-terminal domain (NTD) and three C-terminal domains (CTD1, CTD2, and CTD3) [26]. For SARS-CoV, the receptor binding domain (RBD) is located in the CTD1 of the S1 region. SARS-CoV attaches the human host cells through the binding of the RBD protein to the angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) [27,28]. Therefore, the interaction between RBD and ACE2 is a prerequisite for the human infection with SARS-CoV. Given the high homology between SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, it was expected that SARS-CoV-2 would also use the ACE2 molecule as the receptor to enter human cells [24,29]. This hypothesis was further experimentally confirmed by the virus infectivity studies from the Shi group, in which SARS-CoV-2 is able to use the ACE2 proteins from humans, Chinese horseshoe bats, and civ...

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Section: The Rbd-ace2 Interaction: Sars-cov-2 Binds Ace2 With Higher mentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Mechanism of Evolution and Human Infection with SARS-CoV-2

Tao

Yan

et al. 2020

Viruses

153

190

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Other species which have been examined as animal models for WNV infection include pigs, dog and cats [199,200]. Experimental infection of snakes and bats failed to demonstrate significant viremia and disease [201,202]. Young chicks have occasionally been used as models for avian infection as wild birds can be difficult to work with and require trapping and special care [203][204][205][206][207].…”

Section: Additional Animal Species Used In Wnv Biomedical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Pathology of West Nile Virus in Humans and Non-Human Animals

Byas

Ebel

2020

Pathogens

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West Nile virus (WNV) continues to be a major cause of human arboviral neuroinvasive disease. Susceptible non-human vertebrates are particularly diverse, ranging from commonly affected birds and horses to less commonly affected species such as alligators. This review summarizes the pathology caused by West Nile virus during natural infections of humans and non-human animals. While the most well-known findings in human infection involve the central nervous system, WNV can also cause significant lesions in the heart, kidneys and eyes. Time has also revealed chronic neurologic sequelae related to prior human WNV infection. Similarly, neurologic disease is a prominent manifestation of WNV infection in most non-human non-host animals. However, in some avian species, which serve as the vertebrate host for WNV maintenance in nature, severe systemic disease can occur, with neurologic, cardiac, intestinal and renal injury leading to death. The pathology seen in experimental animal models of West Nile virus infection and knowledge gains on viral pathogenesis derived from these animal models are also briefly discussed. A gap in the current literature exists regarding the relationship between the neurotropic nature of WNV in vertebrates, virus propagation and transmission in nature. This and other knowledge gaps, and future directions for research into WNV pathology, are addressed.

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“…Bats seem to be able to tolerate potential zoonotic viruses in greater numbers [3] and can therefore act as a reservoir for many future emerging diseases. The question regarding if bats can act as reservoirs for arboviruses is being discussed [4] and so far no consensus has been reached but it is at least known that bats and various blood-sucking arthropods share ecological niches and that there are many arthropods that feed on bats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel Viruses Found in Antricola Ticks Collected in Bat Caves in the Western Amazonia of Brazil

Blomström

Luz

Öhlund

et al. 2019

Viruses

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In this study, we describe the viral composition of adult Antricola delacruzi ticks collected in a hot bat cave in the state of Rondônia, Western Amazonia, Brazil. A. delacruzi ticks, are special, compared to many other ticks, in that they feed on both bats (larval blood feeding) and bat guano (nymphal and adult feeding) instead of feeding exclusively on vertebrate hosts (blood feeding). Considering this unique life-cycle it is potentially possible that these ticks can pick up/be infected by viruses not only present in the blood of viremic bats but also by virus shed through the bat guano. The viral metagenomic investigation of adult ticks showed that single-stranded negative-sense RNA viruses were the dominant group of viruses identified in the investigated ticks. Out of these, members of the Nairoviridae family were in clear majority constituting 88% of all viral reads in the data set. Genetic and phylogenetic analyses indicate the presence of several different orthonairoviruses in the investigated ticks with only distant relationship to previously described ones. In addition, identification of viral sequences belonging to Orthomyxoviridae, Iflaviridae, Dicistroviridae, Polycipiviridae, Reoviridae and different unclassified RNA viruses showed the presence of viruses with low sequence similarity to previously described viruses.

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Can Bats Serve as Reservoirs for Arboviruses?

Cited by 59 publications

References 152 publications

Molecular Mechanism of Evolution and Human Infection with SARS-CoV-2

Molecular Mechanism of Evolution and Human Infection with SARS-CoV-2

Comparative Pathology of West Nile Virus in Humans and Non-Human Animals

Novel Viruses Found in Antricola Ticks Collected in Bat Caves in the Western Amazonia of Brazil

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