📄 Alphacoronaviruses detected in french bats are phylogeographically linked to coronaviruses of european bats

licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Bats are a reservoir for a diverse range of viruses, including coronaviruses (Co. Vs). To determine the presence of Co. Vs in French bats, fecal samples were collected between July and August of 2014 from four bat species in seven different locations around the city of Bourges in France. We present for the first time the presence of alpha-Co. Vs in French Pipistrellus pipistrellus bat species with an estimated prevalence of 4.2%. Based on the analysis of a fragment of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (Rd. Rp) gene, phylogenetic analyses show that alpha-Co. Vs sequences detected in French bats are closely related to other European bat alpha-Co. Vs. Phylogeographic analyses of Rd. Rp sequences show that several Co. Vs strains circulate in European bats: (i) old strains detected that have probably diverged a long time ago and are detected in different bat subspecies; (ii) strains detected in Myotis and Pipistrellus bat species that have more recently diverged. Our findings support previous observations describing the complexity of the detected Co. Vs in bats worldwide.

keywords 🔗 closely related (222) 🔗 fecal samples (92)

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