title: Identification of Novel Betaherpesviruses in Iberian Bats Reveals Parallel Evolution.
abstract: A thorough search for bat herpesviruses was carried out in oropharyngeal samples taken from most of the bat species present in the Iberian Peninsula from the Vespertilionidae, Miniopteridae, Molossidae and Rhinolophidae families, in addition to a colony of captive fruit bats from the Pteropodidae family. By using two degenerate consensus PCR methods targeting two conserved genes, distinct and previously unrecognized bat-hosted herpesviruses were identified for the most of the tested species. All together a total of 42 potentially novel bat herpesviruses were partially characterized. Thirty-two of them were tentatively assigned to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily while the remaining 10 were allocated into the Gammaherpesvirinae subfamily. Significant diversity was observed among the novel sequences when compared with type herpesvirus species of the ICTV-approved genera. The inferred phylogenetic relationships showed that most of the betaherpesviruses sequences fell into a well-supported unique monophyletic clade and support the recognition of a new betaherpesvirus genus. This clade is subdivided into three major clades, corresponding to the families of bats studied. This supports the hypothesis of a species-specific parallel evolution process between the potentially new betaherpesviruses and their bat hosts. Interestingly, two of the betaherpesviruses' sequences detected in rhinolophid bats clustered together apart from the rest, closely related to viruses that belong to the Roseolovirus genus. This suggests a putative third roseolo lineage. On the contrary, no phylogenetic structure was detected among several potentially novel bat-hosted gammaherpesviruses found in the study. Remarkably, all of the possible novel bat herpesviruses described in this study are linked to a unique bat species.
authors.affiliation: Virology Section, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1828-733X
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pozo
authors.affiliation: Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Juste
authors.affiliation: Virology Section, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biológica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Morón
authors.affiliation: Virology Section, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biológica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aznar-López
authors.affiliation: Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ibáñez
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, The Basque Country, Spain.
authors.forename: Inazio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Garin
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, The Basque Country, Spain.
authors.forename: Joxerra
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aihartza
authors.affiliation: Virology Section, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Inmaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Casas
authors.affiliation: Virology Section, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tenorio
authors.affiliation: Virology Section, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biológica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Emilio
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Echevarría
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018141:Betaherpesvirinae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D018142:Gammaherpesvirinae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011174:Portugal; D019211:Roseolovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral