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

Yinda, Claude Kwe; Ghogomu, Stephen Mbigha; Conceição-Neto, Nádia; Beller, Leen; Deboutte, Ward; Vanhulle, Emiel; Maes, Piet; Van Ranst, Marc; Matthijnssens, Jelle

Partitiviruses are viruses of the family Partitiviridae possessing a 30-35-nm diameter spherical particle which contains a bisegmented double-stranded RNA genome (Nibert et al. 2014 ). The larger genome segment (dsRNA1) codes for the RdRp while the smaller segment (dsRNA2) encodes one (or two) coat protein(s) (Buck and Ghabrial 1991) . Also, these segments are encapsidated in separate virus particles, which must therefore, simultaneously infect the host for successful propagation (Buck and Kempson-Jones 1973; Szeg} o et al. 2010) . Partitiviruses are known to infect plants, fungi and an apicomplexan protist of the genus Cryptosporidium and are classified into five genera based on phylogenetic analysis: Alphapartitivirus, Betapartitivirus, Gammapartitivirus, Deltapartitivirus, and Cryspovirus (Nibert et al. 2014 ). Here we identified thirty-nine partiti-like RdRp sequences. Surprisingly, only eight of the strains fall within these established genera: five of which clusters with fig cryptic virus (genus Deltapartitivirus) while the other three are closely related to viruses of the genus Gammapartitivirus. Twenty-eight of the sequences form several new and divergent clusters with a varying degree of relatedness to recently described unclassified invertebrate partiti-like viruses from China (Shi et al. 2016) ( Supplementary Fig. S2 ). Overall, these data suggest a far greater diversity of viruses in this family, than was previously recognized, warranting the creation of multiple novel genera inside the family Partitiviridae. Here, capsid sequences were recovered only for fig crytic-like partitiviruses of the Deltapartitivirus genus and not for other sequences. This is most likely due to high genetic divergence, not allowing their identification using DIAMOND search. Given that partitiviruses are known to infect plants, fungi, and protist, it is most likely that these viruses are derived from the plants and fruits on which the bats feed.