Bombali Ebolavirus in Mops condylurus Bats (Molossidae), Mozambique

Abstract

We detected Bombali ebolavirus RNA in 3 free-tailed bats (Mops condylurus, Molossidae) in Mozambique. Sequencing of the large protein gene revealed 98% identity with viruses previously detected in Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Guinea. Our findings further support the suspected role of Mops condylurus bats in maintaining Bombali ebolavirus.

Keywords: Bombali ebolavirus; Mops condylurus; Mozambique; viruses.

Figure

Bombali virus detection in Angolan free-tailed bats (Mops condylurus). A) Geographic range highlighted in red. Information regarding the sex of positive M. condylurus bats in Guinea is not available (4). The map was generated with data available from Natural Earth (https://www.naturalearthdata.com) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Web site (https://www.iucnredlist.org). B) Maximum-likelihood tree based on partial nucleotide sequences (587 bp) of the large protein gene of selected filoviruses. Red indicates sequences generated in this study. The phylogenetic analysis was conducted with the transversion plus gamma evolutionary model (α = 0.32) and 1,000 bootstraps (Appendix). All but 1 of the Bombali virus were detected in Mops condylurus bats, with the exception of MF319186, which collected from a Chaerephon pumilus bat (1).