Group A Rotaviruses in Chinese Bats: Genetic Composition, Serology, and Evidence for Bat-to-Human Transmission and Reassortment

Abstract

Bats are natural reservoirs for many pathogenic viruses, and increasing evidence supports the notion that bats can also harbor group A rotaviruses (RVAs), important causative agents of diarrhea in children and young animals. Currently, 8 RVA strains possessing completely novel genotype constellations or genotypes possibly originating from other mammals have been identified from African and Chinese bats. However, all the data were mainly based on detection of RVA RNA, present only during acute infections, which does not permit assessment of the true exposure of a bat population to RVA. To systematically investigate the genetic diversity of RVAs, 547 bat anal swabs or gut samples along with 448 bat sera were collected from five South Chinese provinces. Specific reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) screening found four RVA strains. Strain GLRL1 possessed a completely novel genotype constellation, whereas the other three possessed a constellation consistent with the MSLH14-like genotype, a newly characterized group of viruses widely prevalent in Chinese insectivorous bats. Among the latter, strain LZHP2 provided strong evidence of crossspecies transmission of RVAs from bats to humans, whereas strains YSSK5 and BSTM70 were likely reassortants between typical MSLH14-like RVAs and human RVAs. RVA-specific antibodies were detected in 10.7% (48/448) of bat sera by an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IIFA). Bats in Guangxi and Yunnan had a higher RVA-specific antibody prevalence than those from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. These observations provide evidence for cross-species transmission of MSLH14-like bat RVAs to humans, highlighting the impact of bats as reservoirs of RVAs on public health.IMPORTANCE Bat viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Ebola, Hendra, and Nipah viruses, are important pathogens causing outbreaks of severe emerging infectious diseases. However, little is known about bat viruses capable of causing gastroenteritis in humans, even though 8 group A viruses (RVAs) have been identified from bats so far. In this study, another 4 RVA strains were identified, with one providing strong evidence for zoonotic transmission from bats to humans. Serological investigation has also indicated that RVA infection in bats is far more prevalent than expected based on the detection of viral RNA.

A G3P[13] porcine group A rotavirus emerging in China is a reassortant and a natural recombinant in the VP4 gene

“…Reassortment events between humans and animal strains have been found previously (Banyai et al., ; Doan et al., ; Esona et al., , ; Ghosh et al., ; He et al., , ; Jere, Mlera, O'Neill, Peenze, & van Dijk, ; Malik et al., ; Masuda et al., ; Matthijnssens et al., ; Mullick et al., ; Steyer, Sagadin, Kolenc, & Poljsak‐Prijatelj, ). Of the 11 segments of the RVA/Pig/China/LNCY/2016/G3P[13] strain, nine gene segments (VP1, VP2, VP3, VP4, VP6, NSP1, NSP2, NSP3 and NPS5) possessed sequences nearly identical with those of the porcine strains, suggesting that RVA/Pig/China/LNCY/2016/G3P[13] was possibly of porcine origin.…”

Viruses in bats and potential spillover to animals and humans

“…Similarly, there are many other bat-borne viruses with the potential for zoonotic transmission, but without documented human infection. Rotaviruses and noroviruses, members of the families Reoviridae and Caliciviridae, respectively, are the major etiologic agents of acute gastroenteritis and several reports have identified rotavirus [98,99,[104][105][106] or norovirus [107,108]…”

A decade of RNA virus metagenomics is (not) enough

“…Bats aggregate a wide array of arthropods, plants, and other animals and produce copious amounts of guano and have been associated with multiple zoonoses. Cameroonian fruit bats, Chinese bats, Myanmar bats, Hungarian bats, French bats, American bats, big brown bats, tricolored bats, and little brown bats have all been profiled showing a vast array of RNA viruses from eukaryotic hosts (Dacheux et al, 2014;Donaldson et al, 2010;Ge et al, 2012;He et al, 2013He et al, , 2017Kemenesi et al, 2014;Li et al, 2010;Yinda et al, 2017). Bats have been used to put an upper limitin the hundreds of thousands − of the total number of eukaryotic viruses that remain to be discovered (Anthony et al, 2013).…”