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Detection of Alpha- and Betacoronaviruses in Small Mammals in Western Yunnan Province, China.

Fen-Hui XuPei-Yu HanJia-Wei TianLi-Dong ZongHong-Min YinJun-Ying ZhaoZe YangWei KongXing-Yi GeYun-Zhi Zhang
Published in: Viruses (2023)
The genetic diversity of coronaviruses (CoVs) is high, and their infection in animals has not yet been fully revealed. By RT-PCR detection of the partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene of CoVs, we screened a total of 502 small mammals in the Dali and Nujiang prefectures of Western Yunnan Province, China. The number of overall CoV positives was 20, including β-CoV ( n = 13) and α-CoV ( n = 7), with a 3.98% prevalence in rectal tissue samples. The identity of the partial RdRp genes obtained for 13 strains of β-CoV was 83.42-99.23% at the nucleotide level, and it is worth noting that the two strains from Kachin red-backed voles showed high identity to BOV-36/IND/2015 from Indian bovines and DcCoV-HKU23 from dromedary camels ( Camelus dromedarius ) in Morocco; the nucleotide identity was between 97.86 and 98.33%. Similarly, the identity of the seven strains of α-CoV among the partial RdRp sequences was 94.00-99.18% at nucleotide levels. The viral load in different tissues was measured by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). The average CoV viral load in small mammalian rectal tissue was 1.35 × 10 6 copies/g; differently, the mean CoV viral load in liver, heart, lung, spleen, and kidney tissue was from 0.97 × 10 3 to 3.95 × 10 3 copies/g, which revealed that CoV has extensive tropism in rectal tissue in small mammals ( p < 0.0001). These results revealed the genetic diversity, epidemiology, and infective tropism of α-CoV and β-CoV in small mammals from Dali and Nujiang, which deepens the comprehension of the retention and infection of coronavirus in natural hosts.
Keyphrases
  • respiratory syndrome coronavirus
  • sars cov
  • genetic diversity
  • coronavirus disease
  • south africa
  • escherichia coli
  • real time pcr
  • gene expression
  • rectal cancer
  • label free