Influence of age and body condition on astrovirus infection of bats in Singapore: An evolutionary and epidemiological analysis

Mendenhall, Ian H.; Skiles, Maggie M.; Neves, Erica Sena; Borthwick, Sophie A.; Low, Dolyce H.W.; Liang, Benjamin; Lee, Benjamin P.Y.-H.; Su, Yvonne C.F.; Smith, Gavin J.D.

s have arisen from different origins. Specifically, the Clade 2 bat astroviruses are most closely related to viruses from other mammals, indicating that the may have arisen by interspecies transmission from a non-bat host. This is in contrast to previously observed relationships of coronaviruses and astroviruses, where bats generally harbor virus lineages that are ancestral to viruses found in other mammalian hosts [50] [51] [52] . However, this could also reflect sampling biases. Furthermore, some terrestrial mammalian astroviruses in Clade 2 were monophyletic (e.g. dogs and rats) that may reflect host restrictions, while others (e.g. those from humans and non-human primates and swine) were not monophyletic, indicating that the interspecies transmission among these hosts is less restricted. More sequence data from different host species are necessary to better understand the underlying factors influencing the cross-species transmission and persistence of the virus.