Virome Profiling of Bats from Myanmar by Metagenomic Analysis of Tissue Samples Reveals More Novel Mammalian Viruses

He, Biao; Li, Zuosheng; Yang, Fanli; Zheng, Junfeng; Feng, Ye; Guo, Huancheng; Li, Yingying; Wang, Yiyin; Su, Nan; Zhang, Fuqiang; Fan, Quanshui; Tu, Changchun

The family Circoviridae has two genera, Circovirus and Gyrovirus, and a wide host range from mammalian animals to avian species [48, 54, 55, 62] . CVs are important pathogens of pigs and have a huge impact on the pig industry. These viruses have also been found in some avian species causing immumosuppression and growth retardation [62] [63] [64] [65] . However, a viral metagenomics analysis of bat guano in North America first identified their presence in bats [37] . Since then, CVs have been commonly found in bats and have shown a large genetic diversity [9, 10, 35] . According to ICTV criteria, BtCV XOR1, observed in this study, should be a new species since it shares ,60% aa identity with known circoviruses [48] . Topologically, the known bat circoviruses are grouped into genera Circovirus and Cyclovirus, with some having higher similarities to other animal circoviruses than to bat circoviruses ( Figure 6C ). For example, BtCV XOR1 in our study shared the highest (56% aa) identity with canine CV (No.JQ821392), and only 48% identity with BtCV YN-BtCV-2 (No. JF938079). The large genomic diversity of bat circoviruses suggests that co-evolution of the viruses could occur in bats.