Five-year longitudinal surveillance reveals the continual circulation of both alpha- and beta-coronaviruses in Plateau and Gansu pikas (Ochotona spp.) at Qinghai Lake, China¹.

ABSTRACT: The discovery of alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses in plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) expanded the host range of mammalian coronavirus (CoV) to a new order - Lagomorpha. However, the diversity and evolutionary relationships of CoVs in these plateau-region-specific animal population remains uncertain. We conducted a five-year longitudinal surveillance of CoVs harboured by pikas around Qinghai Lake, China. CoVs were identified in 33 of 236 plateau pikas and 2 of 6 Gansu pikas (Ochotona cansus), with a total positivity rate of 14.5%, and exhibiting a wide spatiotemporal distribution across seven sampling sites and six time points. Through meta-transcriptomic sequencing and RT-PCR, we recovered 16 near-complete viral genome sequences. Phylogenetic analyses classified th

SUBMITTER: Xu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11346322 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature