New coronaviruses discovered in bats in Spain

A multidisciplinary research team led by the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the University of Valencia (UV), together with the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology of the UV, has identified eight coronavirus genomes in bats from different regions of Spainthree of which could represent new viral species. The study, whose results have been published in the ‘PLoS Pathogens’ magazineis based on the sequencing fecal samples from hundreds of bats collected in various parts of Spain, belonging to 23 different species.

This research represents “the greatest effort made to date to study the diversity of coronaviruses in the Iberian fauna”stresses the CSIC in a statement. Thanks to her, the work team has managed to identify eight complete coronavirus genomesof which three correspond to potentially new coronavirus species, belonging to the Alphacoronavirus genus. This genre It includes a large part of the known coronaviruses and includes various causes of common coldsas well as important viruses from pigs and other species.

Analysis of close connections between viruses

Phylogenetic analyzes revealed evolutionary connections with coronaviruses described above in bats from other countries in Asia and Europe, suggesting that The viral reservoirs of these regions share many elements in common. “The strong similarities between these viruses would indicate a fairly recent common origin and an important transmission of these viruses in bat populations,” explains Rafael Sanjuán, researcher at I2SysBio and one of the main authors of the study.

One of the identified viruses, RhBetaCoV-Murcia2022, belongs to the Betacoronavirus genus, like SARS-CoV-2. Besides, This new virus showed the ability to use the human ACE2 receptor (the same one used by SARS-CoV-2)although with a significantly lower affinity. Viral receptors are generally cell surface proteins used by viruses as a gateway. Thus, this finding suggests a zoonotic potential (ability to transmit from animals to humans)but emphasizes the importance of continuing to investigate viral diversity in bats to prevent possible zoonotic viral outbreaks.

“Although the new virus and SARS-CoV-2 share a receptor, There are other factors that a virus needs to be considered infectious or potentially dangerous, because in addition to entering the cell, it must be able to replicate its genome, express its genes, evade the immune response and be transmitted efficiently between people“, says Jérémy Dufloo, researcher at I2SysBio and author of the study. In this sense, the researcher explains: “At the moment it has not been possible to isolate and culture the complete virusso we lack the tools for a more detailed study of the virus.”

An important advance for prevention

These findings highlight the importance of carrying out field studies to detect the presence of these viruses and understand their behavior in nature. Its monitoring (analyzing its abundance, contact with human beings or its evolution) is key in preventing future viral outbreaks. Likewise, the identification of the receptors (such as ACE2) that viruses use to infect cells allows design new antivirals that inhibit their entry.

In this way, this type of research contributes to the development of new antivirals that could be used in the event of future outbreaks viral. This research has been funded by the European Research Council (ERC), the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Generalitat Valenciana, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and Sklodowska-Curie Actions.