Intraspecies diversity of SARS-like coronaviruses in Rhinolophus sinicus and its implications for the origin of SARS coronaviruses in humans

The Chinese rufous horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) has been suggested to carry the direct ancestor of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SCoV), and the diversity of SARS-like CoVs (SLCoV) within this Rhinolophus species is therefore worth investigating. Here, we demonstrate th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of general virology 2010-04, Vol.91 (Pt 4), p.1058-1062
Main Authors: JUNFA YUAN, HON, Chung-Chau, ZHENGLI SHI, YAN LI, DINGMING WANG, GELIN XU, HUAJUN ZHANG, PENG ZHOU, POON, Leo L. M, LAM, Tommy Tsan-Yuk, LEUNG, Frederick Chi-Ching
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Base Sequence
Biological and medical sciences
Chiroptera - virology
Cytochromes b - genetics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Recombination, Genetic
RNA Replicase - genetics
SARS coronavirus
SARS Virus - classification
SARS Virus - genetics
Viral Nonstructural Proteins - genetics
Virology
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Summary:The Chinese rufous horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) has been suggested to carry the direct ancestor of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SCoV), and the diversity of SARS-like CoVs (SLCoV) within this Rhinolophus species is therefore worth investigating. Here, we demonstrate the remarkable diversity of SLCoVs in R. sinicus and identify a strain with the same pattern of phylogenetic incongruence (i.e. an indication of recombination) as reported previously in another SLCoV strain. Moreover, this strain possesses a distinctive 579 nt deletion in the nsp3 region that was also found in a human SCoV from the late-phase epidemic. Phylogenetic analysis of the Orf1 region suggested that the human SCoVs are phylogenetically closer to SLCoVs in R. sinicus than to SLCoVs in other Rhinolophus species. These findings reveal a closer evolutionary linkage between SCoV in humans and SLCoVs in R. sinicus, defining the scope of surveillance to search for the direct ancestor of human SCoVs.
ISSN:0022-1317
1465-2099
DOI:10.1099/vir.0.016378-0