Cameroonian fruit bats harbor divergent viruses, including rotavirus H, bastroviruses, and picobirnaviruses using an alternative genetic code.

ABSTRACT: Most human emerging infectious diseases originate from wildlife and bats are a major reservoir of viruses, a few of which have been highly pathogenic to humans. In some regions of Cameroon, bats are hunted and eaten as a delicacy. This close proximity between human and bats provides ample opportunity for zoonotic events. To elucidate the viral diversity of Cameroonian fruit bats, we collected and metagenomically screened eighty-seven fecal samples of Eidolon helvum and Epomophorus gambianus fruit bats. The results showed a plethora of known and novel viruses. Phylogenetic analyses of the eleven gene segments of the first complete bat rotavirus H genome, showed clearly separated clusters of human, porcine, and bat rotavirus H strains, not indicating any recent interspecies tra

SUBMITTER: Yinda CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5888411 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature