title: Genetic diversity of novel circular ssDNA viruses in bats in China.
abstract: Novel circular ssDNA genomes have recently been detected in animals and in the environment using metagenomic and high-throughput sequencing approaches. In this study, five full-length circular ssDNA genomes were recovered from bat faecal samples using inverse PCR with sequences designed based on circovirus-related sequences obtained from Solexa sequencing data derived from a random amplification method. These five sequences shared a similar genomic organization to circovirus or the recently proposed cyclovirus of the family Circoviridae. The newly obtained circovirus/cyclovirus-like genomes ranged from 1741 to 2177 bp, and each consisted of two major ORFs, ORF1 and ORF2, encoding putative replicase (Rep) and capsid (Cap) proteins, respectively. The potential stem-loop region was predicted in all five genomes, and three of them had the typical conserved nonanucleotide motif of cycloviruses. A set of primers targeting the conserved Rep region was designed and used to detect the prevalence of circovirus/cyclovirus sequences in individual bats. Among 199 samples tested, 47 were positive (23.6%) for the circovirus genome and two (1.0%) were positive for the cyclovirus genome. In total, 48 partial Rep sequences plus the five full-length genomes were obtained in this study. Detailed analysis indicated that these sequences are distantly related to known circovirus/cyclovirus genomes and may represent 22 novel species that belong to the family Circoviridae.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Xingyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Jialu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Xinglou
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Yongquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Yunnan Institute of Endemic Diseases Control and Prevention, Dali, PR China.
authors.forename: Yunzhi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhengli
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D002685:Chiroptera; D018136:Circoviridae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018173:Circoviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral