Discovery of a Highly Divergent Coronavirus in the Asian House Shrew from China Illuminates the Origin of the Alphacoronaviruses.

ABSTRACT: Although shrews are one of the largest groups of mammals, little is known about their role in the evolution and transmission of viral pathogens, including coronaviruses (CoVs). We captured 266 Asian house shrews (Suncus murinus) in Jiangxi and Zhejiang Provinces, China, during 2013 to 2015. CoV RNA was detected in 24 Asian house shrews, with an overall prevalence of 9.02%. Complete viral genome sequences were successfully recovered from the RNA-positive samples. The newly discovered shrew CoV fell into four lineages reflecting their geographic origins, indicative of largely allopatric evolution. Notably, these viruses were most closely related to alphacoronaviruses but sufficiently divergent that they should be considered a novel member of the genus Alphacoronavirus, which we

SUBMITTER: Wang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5553162 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature