title: Recent transmission of a novel alphacoronavirus, bat coronavirus HKU10, from Leschenault's rousettes to pomona leaf-nosed bats: first evidence of interspecies transmission of coronavirus between bats of different suborders.
abstract: Although coronaviruses are known to infect various animals by adapting to new hosts, interspecies transmission events are still poorly understood. During a surveillance study from 2005 to 2010, a novel alphacoronavirus, BatCoV HKU10, was detected in two very different bat species, Ro-BatCoV HKU10 in Leschenault's rousettes (Rousettus leschenaulti) (fruit bats in the suborder Megachiroptera) in Guangdong and Hi-BatCoV HKU10 in Pomona leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideros pomona) (insectivorous bats in the suborder Microchiroptera) in Hong Kong. Although infected bats appeared to be healthy, Pomona leaf-nosed bats carrying Hi-BatCoV HKU10 had lower body weights than uninfected bats. To investigate possible interspecies transmission between the two bat species, the complete genomes of two Ro-BatCoV HKU10 and six Hi-BatCoV HKU10 strains were sequenced. Genome and phylogenetic analyses showed that Ro-BatCoV HKU10 and Hi-BatCoV HKU10 represented a novel alphacoronavirus species, sharing highly similar genomes except in the genes encoding spike proteins, which had only 60.5% amino acid identities. Evolution of the spike protein was also rapid in Hi-BatCoV HKU10 strains from 2005 to 2006 but stabilized thereafter. Molecular-clock analysis dated the most recent common ancestor of all BatCoV HKU10 strains to 1959 (highest posterior density regions at 95% [HPDs], 1886 to 2002) and that of Hi-BatCoV HKU10 to 1986 (HPDs, 1956 to 2004). The data suggested recent interspecies transmission from Leschenault's rousettes to Pomona leaf-nosed bats in southern China. Notably, the rapid adaptive genetic change in BatCoV HKU10 spike protein by ~40% amino acid divergence after recent interspecies transmission was even greater than the ~20% amino acid divergence between spike proteins of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related Rhinolophus bat coronavirus (SARSr-CoV) in bats and civets. This study provided the first evidence for interspecies transmission of coronavirus between bats of different suborders.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Susanna K P
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Kenneth S M
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Alan K L
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Tsang
authors.forename: Chung-Tong
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Shek
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Garnet K Y
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Rongtong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Beatrice H L
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Rosana W S
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: Carol S F
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Sylvia Y H
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Rachel Y Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Kwok-Hung
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Bo-Jian
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Patrick C Y
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.forename: Kwok-Yung
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Yuen
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D001835:Body Weight; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017934:Coronavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000662:veterinary*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006723:Hong Kong; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral