Genomic characterization of two novel polyomaviruses in Brazilian insectivorous bats

Abstract

Two novel genomes comprising ≈4.9 kb were identified by next-generation sequencing from pooled organs of Tadarida brasiliensis bats. The overall nucleotide sequence identities between the viral genomes characterized here were less than 80% in comparison to other polyomaviruses (PyVs), members of the family Polyomaviridae. The new genomes display the archetypal organization of PyVs, which includes open reading frames for the regulatory proteins small T antigen (STAg) and large T antigen (LTAg), as well as capsid proteins VP1, VP2 and VP3. In addition, an alternate ORF was identified in the early genome region that is conserved in a large monophyletic group of polyomaviruses. Phylogenetic analysis showed similar clustering with group of PyVs detected in Otomops and Chaerephon bats and some species of monkeys. In this study, the genomes of two novel PyVs were detected in bats of a single species, demonstrating that these mammals can harbor genetically diverse polyomaviruses.

A Preliminary Study of the Virome of the South American Free-Tailed Bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) and Identification of Two Novel Mammalian Viruses

“…Several mammalian viral families, supported by the contigs and sequencing reads, have been identified previously in New World [23,24,26] and Old World [17,18,89] bat species. The mammalian viral families identified in T. brasiliensis included typical zoonotic viruses identified previously in bats, such as Polyomaviridae [29], Rhabdoviridae [90], Coronaviridae [23,28], Poxviridae, Flaviviridae, and Adenoviridae [23]. The identification of Circoviridae and Astroviridae in T. brasiliensis was also in line with the results of previous studies [23,31].…”

“…On the other hand, the viromes of bats from South America remain understudied [25,26]. For example, the identification of viruses infecting T. brasiliensis is principally limited to detection of specific viral families, such as rabies lyssavirus [27], alphacoronaviruses [28], polyomaviruses [29], circoviruses [30], and anelloviruses [31].…”

Mamastrovirus 5 detected in a crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous): Expanding wildlife host range of astroviruses

“…RNA virome sequencing was performed as previously described [18]. Briefly, the brain, lungs, lymph nodes, intestines, urine and feces, which were collected from the crab-eating fox, were pooled, macerated, centrifuged at a low speed, filtered through a 0.45 μm filter to remove small debris, and subjected to ultracentrifugation under a 25% sucrose cushion (∼150,000 × g for 4 h).…”

Detection of adenovirus, papillomavirus and parvovirus in Brazilian bats of the species Artibeus lituratus and Sturnira lilium

“…In Brazil, adenoviruses, anelloviruses, circoviruses, coronaviruses, polyomaviruses, parvoviruses and rhabdoviruses have already been detected in different bat species [16,20,[27][28][29][30]. However, previous studies were performed using traditional genome amplification methods.…”