A novel hantavirus identified in bats (Carollia perspicillata) in Brazil

Abstract

Bats play an essential role in maintaining ecosystems. Their unique characteristics increase the likelihood of interactions with various species, making them a potential source for the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. Hantaviruses are continuously expanding their range of hosts. This study presents the identification of a partial genome associated with Hantavirus in samples collected from neotropical bats. We conducted a metagenomic study using samples from Carollia perspicillata in Maranhão, Brazil. Tissue fragments were used for RNA extraction and subsequent sequencing. The resulting data was subjected to bioinformatic analysis. A sequence showing an identity of 72.86% with the L gene in the reference genome was obtained. The phylogenetic analysis revealed the study sequence, denoted as Buritiense, clustering within the Mobatvirus clade. The intragroup analysis showed a broader dispersion and were markedly asymmetric. This observation suggests the possibility that Buritiense could potentially represent a new species within the bat-borne hantaviruses, but further analyses are needed to provide additional insights if bats plays a role as reservoirs and the potential for transmission to human populations.

Figure 1

Conserved domains of Mobatvirus. Demonstration of the different functional domains of proteins from various viruses belonging to the genus Mobatvirus. The yellow arrow corresponds to the coding region of the proteins. The different domains are shown, such as RNA endonuclease, cap-snatching (TIGR04202) in red, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (PF12426) in green, Bunyavirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (PF04196) in purple, and RdRp of negative ssRNA viruses with segmented genomes catalytic domain profile (PS50525) in blue.

Figure 2

Phylogenetic tree. Reconstruction of the phylogeny of Hantaviridae family representative viruses was performed using the Maximum Likelihood method. The bootstraping values defined for a run of 1.000 repetitions are displayed on each node. Colored circles indicate the clades of the main taxonomic groups, with the newly sequenced taxon highlighted in red. The study sequence, Buritiense, forms a distinct branch within bats clade, near to Quenzonense and Robinaense.

Figure 3

Map of the collection site in Timon, Maranhão The region is situated in the Northeastern of Brazil. The figure was generated using QGIS v.3.10 software (available at https://qgis.org/en/site/), which utilized satellite approximations from the Google Maps application in conjunction with the IBGE 2022 cartographic database (available at https://www.ibge.gov.br/).