Bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-like coronaviruses.

Wendong Li¹ Zhengli Shi Meng Yu Wuze Ren Craig Smith Jonathan H Epstein Hanzhong Wang Gary Crameri Zhihong Hu Huajun Zhang Jianhong Zhang Jennifer McEachern Hume Field Peter Daszak Bryan T Eaton Shuyi Zhang Lin-Fa Wang

Affiliations 1 institutions

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.

PMID16195424 DOI10.1126/science.1118391 Year2005 Journal Science (New York, N.Y.) Science Languageeng Statusppublish

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) emerged in 2002 to 2003 in southern China. The origin of its etiological agent, the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), remains elusive. Here we report that species of bats are a natural host of coronaviruses closely related to those responsible for the SARS outbreak. These viruses, termed SARS-like coronaviruses (SL-CoVs), display greater genetic variation than SARS-CoV isolated from humans or from civets. The human and civet isolates of SARS-CoV nestle phylogenetically within the spectrum of SL-CoVs, indicating that the virus responsible for the SARS outbreak was a member of this coronavirus group.

Supporting text Virus Host Location

Coronavirus 92 Disease Reservoirs 149 Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 78 Amino Acid Sequence 128 Animals 1948 China 229 Chiroptera 371 Chlorocebus aethiops 70 Communicable Diseases, Emerging 33 Disease Outbreaks 170 Genetic Variation 127 Genome, Viral 317 Henipavirus 18 Humans 1440 Molecular Sequence Data 160 Mutation 209 Phylogeny 805 Polymerase Chain Reaction 38 Sequence Analysis, DNA 113 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 22 Vero Cells 55 Viverridae 12

Evidence records

3 total

Zoonotic Surveillance

2 records · 2 evidence types

Evidence type Viral Detection

1 records

OVE11465 Viral Detection

Key finding

SARS-like coronaviruses were detected in bat species.

Virus

Host

Location

Supporting text

Here we report that species of bats are a natural host of coronaviruses closely related to those responsible for the SARS outbreak.

Method: molecular detection | sequencing | phylogenetic analysis

Evidence type Reservoir Ecology

1 records

OVE11466 Reservoir Ecology

Key finding

Bats are identified as natural hosts and ecological reservoirs of SARS-like coronaviruses closely related to the virus responsible for the SARS outbreak.

Virus

Host

Location

Supporting text

Here we report that species of bats are a natural host of coronaviruses closely related to those responsible for the SARS outbreak.

Method: phylogenetic analysis | virus detection in bat samples

Genomic Evolution

1 records · 1 evidence types

Evidence type Phylogenetic Evolution

1 records

OVE11467 Phylogenetic Evolution

Key finding

Phylogenetic analysis shows that human and civet SARS-CoV isolates cluster within the diversity of bat SARS-like coronaviruses, indicating a shared evolutionary origin.

Virus

Host

human Homo sapiens Natural host

masked palm civet Paguma larvata Natural host

bats Chiroptera Natural host

Location

Supporting text

These viruses, termed SARS-like coronaviruses (SL-CoVs), display greater genetic variation than SARS-CoV isolated from humans or from civets. The human and civet isolates of SARS-CoV nestle phylogenetically within the spectrum of SL-CoVs, indicating that the virus responsible for the SARS outbreak was a member of this coronavirus group.