Identification and characterization of novel bat coronaviruses in Spain

Abstract

The zoonotic transmission of bat coronaviruses poses a threat to human health. However, the diversity of bat-borne coronaviruses remains poorly characterized in many geographical areas. Here, we recovered eight coronavirus genomes by performing a metagenomic analysis of fecal samples from hundreds of individual bats captured in Spain, a country with high bat diversity. Three of these genomes corresponded to potentially novel coronavirus species belonging to the alphacoronavirus genus. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that some of these viruses are closely related to coronaviruses previously described in bats from other countries, suggesting a shared viral reservoir worldwide. Using viral pseudotypes, we investigated the receptor usage of the identified viruses and found that one of them can use human ACE2, albeit with lower affinity than SARS-CoV-2. However, the receptor usage of the other viruses remains unknown. This study broadens our understanding of coronavirus diversity and identifies research priorities for the prevention of zoonotic viral outbreaks.

This research was financially supported the European Research Council (ERC; Advanced Grant (101019724-EVADER to R.S.), the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN; grant PID2020-118602RB-I00 to R.S. and J.M.C.), the Conselleria de Educación, Universidades y Empleo (Generalitat Valenciana; grant CIAICO/2022/110 to R.S.), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO; postdoctoral fellowship ALTF 140-2021 to J.Du. and R.S.), and the Sklodowska-Curie Actions (postdoctoral fellowship 101104880 to J.Du. and R.S.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.