Genomic screening of 16 UK native bat species through conservationist networks uncovers coronaviruses with zoonotic potential
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
There has been limited characterisation of bat-borne coronaviruses in Europe. Here, we screened for coronaviruses in 48 faecal samples from 16 of the 17 bat species breeding in the UK, collected through a bat rehabilitation and conservationist network. We recovered nine complete genomes, including two novel coronavirus species, across six bat species: four alphacoronaviruses, a MERS-related betacoronavirus, and four closely related sarbecoviruses. We demonstrate that at least one of these sarbecoviruses can bind and use the human ACE2 receptor for infecting human cells, albeit suboptimally. Additionally, the spike proteins of these sarbecoviruses possess an R-A-K-Q motif, which lies only one nucleotide mutation away from a furin cleavage site (FCS) that enhances infectivity in other coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. However, mutating this motif to an FCS does not enable spike cleavage. Overall, while UK sarbecoviruses would require further molecular adaptations to infect humans, their zoonotic risk warrants closer surveillance.
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- Authors
- Tan, C. C. S., Trew, J., Peacock, T. P., Mok, K. Y., Hart, C., Lau, K., Ni, D., Orme, C. D. L., Ransome, E., Pearse, W. D., Coleman, C. M., Bailey, D., Thakur, N., Quantrill, J. L., Sukhova, K., Richard, D., Kahane, L., Woodward, G., Bell, T., Worledge, L., Nunez-Mino, J., Barclay, W., van Dorp, L., Balloux, F., & Savolainen, V.
- Affiliations
- The Francis Crick Institute (GB)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- The Pirbright Institute (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- Bat Conservation Trust (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Savolainen, Vincent
- ORCID
- Tan, Cedric C. S.
- Trew, Jahcub
- Peacock, Thomas P.
- Mok, Kai Yi
- Hart, Charlie
- Lau, Kelvin
- Ni, Dongchun
- Orme, C. David L.
- Ransome, Emma
- Pearse, William D.
- Coleman, Christopher M.
- Bailey, Dalan
- Thakur, Nazia
- Quantrill, Jessica L.
- Sukhova, Ksenia
- Richard, Damien
- Woodward, Guy
- Bell, Thomas
- Worledge, Lisa
- Barclay, Wendy
- van Dorp, Lucy
- Balloux, Francois
- Savolainen, Vincent
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2023-06-27
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3322-3322
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10300128
- OpenAlex
- W4382343786
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7
- FWCI
- 6.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- RCUK | Natural Environment Research Council
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Virus Infections Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Zoonotic diseases and public health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Keywords
- sarbecoviruses, zoonotic potential, alphacoronavirus, spike protein, furin cleavage site, ACE2 binding, viral surveillance, bat conservation
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Animals, Chiroptera, United Kingdom, Humans, Phylogeny, Genomics, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
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