tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Viruses
. 2023 Sep 20;15(9):1965.
doi: 10.3390/v15091965. Detection of Alpha- and Betacoronaviruses in Small Mammals in Western Yunnan Province, China
Fen-Hui Xu[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Pei-Yu Han[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Jia-Wei Tian[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Li-Dong Zong[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Hong-Min Yin[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Jun-Ying Zhao[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Ze Yang[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Wei Kong[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Xing-Yi Ge[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Yun-Zhi Zhang[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
The genetic diversity of coronaviruses (CoVs) is high, and their infection in animals has not yet been fully revealed. By RT-PCR detection of the partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene of CoVs, we screened a total of 502 small mammals in the Dali and Nujiang prefectures of Western Yunnan Province, China. The number of overall CoV positives was 20, including β-CoV (n = 13) and α-CoV (n = 7), with a 3.98% prevalence in rectal tissue samples. The identity of the partial RdRp genes obtained for 13 strains of β-CoV was 83.42-99.23% at the nucleotide level, and it is worth noting that the two strains from Kachin red-backed voles showed high identity to BOV-36/IND/2015 from Indian bovines and DcCoV-HKU23 from dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Morocco; the nucleotide identity was between 97.86 and 98.33%. Similarly, the identity of the seven strains of α-CoV among the partial RdRp sequences was 94.00-99.18% at nucleotide levels. The viral load in different tissues was measured by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). The average CoV viral load in small mammalian rectal tissue was 1.35 × 10[SUP]6[/SUP] copies/g; differently, the mean CoV viral load in liver, heart, lung, spleen, and kidney tissue was from 0.97 × 10[SUP]3[/SUP] to 3.95 × 10[SUP]3[/SUP] copies/g, which revealed that CoV has extensive tropism in rectal tissue in small mammals (p < 0.0001). These results revealed the genetic diversity, epidemiology, and infective tropism of α-CoV and β-CoV in small mammals from Dali and Nujiang, which deepens the comprehension of the retention and infection of coronavirus in natural hosts.
Keywords: cross-species transmission; quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR); small mammalian coronavirus; tissue tropism.
. 2023 Sep 20;15(9):1965.
doi: 10.3390/v15091965. Detection of Alpha- and Betacoronaviruses in Small Mammals in Western Yunnan Province, China
Fen-Hui Xu[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Pei-Yu Han[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Jia-Wei Tian[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Li-Dong Zong[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Hong-Min Yin[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Jun-Ying Zhao[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Ze Yang[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Wei Kong[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Xing-Yi Ge[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Yun-Zhi Zhang[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 37766371
- DOI: 10.3390/v15091965
The genetic diversity of coronaviruses (CoVs) is high, and their infection in animals has not yet been fully revealed. By RT-PCR detection of the partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene of CoVs, we screened a total of 502 small mammals in the Dali and Nujiang prefectures of Western Yunnan Province, China. The number of overall CoV positives was 20, including β-CoV (n = 13) and α-CoV (n = 7), with a 3.98% prevalence in rectal tissue samples. The identity of the partial RdRp genes obtained for 13 strains of β-CoV was 83.42-99.23% at the nucleotide level, and it is worth noting that the two strains from Kachin red-backed voles showed high identity to BOV-36/IND/2015 from Indian bovines and DcCoV-HKU23 from dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Morocco; the nucleotide identity was between 97.86 and 98.33%. Similarly, the identity of the seven strains of α-CoV among the partial RdRp sequences was 94.00-99.18% at nucleotide levels. The viral load in different tissues was measured by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). The average CoV viral load in small mammalian rectal tissue was 1.35 × 10[SUP]6[/SUP] copies/g; differently, the mean CoV viral load in liver, heart, lung, spleen, and kidney tissue was from 0.97 × 10[SUP]3[/SUP] to 3.95 × 10[SUP]3[/SUP] copies/g, which revealed that CoV has extensive tropism in rectal tissue in small mammals (p < 0.0001). These results revealed the genetic diversity, epidemiology, and infective tropism of α-CoV and β-CoV in small mammals from Dali and Nujiang, which deepens the comprehension of the retention and infection of coronavirus in natural hosts.
Keywords: cross-species transmission; quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR); small mammalian coronavirus; tissue tropism.