Cross-neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in sera from straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) in Nigeria.

IF 2.6 2区农林科学 Q1 VETERINARY SCIENCES

BMC Veterinary Research Pub Date : 2025-08-29 DOI:10.1186/s12917-025-04938-y

Hooman Goharriz, Guanghui Wu, Veronica O Ameh, Amanda H Seekings, Joan Amaya-Cuesta, Lorraine M McElhinney, Claude T Sabeta

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum; ) are widely distributed in Africa and are known reservoirs for viruses with zoonotic potential. These bats are widely hunted in West and Central Africa for human consumption as food source and medicine. This practice increases the potential for spillover of zoonotic disease to the human population. This study investigated the presence of neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants in serum samples (n = 142) from E. helvum bats captured between November 2017 and March 2019 in Makurdi, Nigeria. Faecal samples (n = 120) from the roost were collected in 2022 and screened for the presence of coronavirus RNA followed by genetic sequencing.

Results: Virus neutralisation tests revealed 7.04% of the bat sera neutralised 2019-nCoV/Italy-INMI1, while 17.57% of the bat sera neutralised a SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 isolate. Partial genome obtained by next generation sequencing identified a lineage D Betacoronavirus from one faecal sample with 98.16% nucleotide sequence identity to sequences from Eidolon helvum collected in Cameroon in 2013. Epitope analysis of the spike protein sequence from the faecal sample showed conserved antigenic determinants shared with SARS-CoV-2.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that pre-pandemic sera collected from Eidolon helvum bats had neutralising activity against SARS-CoV-2 variants. Furthermore we detected the presence of lineage D betacoronavirus in this bat population that shared epitopes with SARS-CoV-2. This work contributes to our understanding of the complexities of coronavirus cross-reactivity. Characterizing bat coronaviruses is crucial to understand their zoonotic potential for spillover events due to bushmeat hunting practices.

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查看原文本刊更多论文

尼日利亚稻草色果蝠（Eidolon helvum）血清中SARS-CoV-2交叉中和抗体

背景：稻草色果蝠（Eidolon helvum;）在非洲广泛分布，是已知的具有人畜共患潜力的病毒宿主。这些蝙蝠在西非和中非被广泛猎杀，作为食物来源和药物供人类食用。这种做法增加了人畜共患疾病向人群蔓延的可能性。本研究调查了2017年11月至2019年3月在尼日利亚马库尔迪捕获的helvum E.蝙蝠血清样本（n = 142）中是否存在针对SARS-CoV-2变体的中和抗体。2022年从栖息地收集粪便样本（n = 120），筛选冠状病毒RNA的存在，然后进行基因测序。结果：病毒中和试验显示，7.04%的蝙蝠血清中和了2019-nCoV/Italy-INMI1, 17.57%的蝙蝠血清中和了SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1分离物。下一代测序获得的部分基因组从一份粪便样本中鉴定出一种谱系D乙型冠状病毒，其核苷酸序列与2013年在喀麦隆采集的Eidolon helvum序列同源性为98.16%。粪便样本刺突蛋白序列表位分析显示与SARS-CoV-2共有保守的抗原决定因子。结论：本研究表明，大流行前收集的Eidolon helvum蝙蝠血清对SARS-CoV-2变体具有中和活性。此外，我们在该蝙蝠种群中检测到与SARS-CoV-2共享表位的D系冠状病毒的存在。这项工作有助于我们了解冠状病毒交叉反应的复杂性。描述蝙蝠冠状病毒的特征对于了解它们因丛林狩猎行为而导致的人畜共患溢出事件的可能性至关重要。

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来源期刊

BMC Veterinary Research VETERINARY SCIENCES-

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

3.80%

发文量

420

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

期刊介绍： BMC Veterinary Research is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of veterinary science and medicine, including the epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of medical conditions of domestic, companion, farm and wild animals, as well as the biomedical processes that underlie their health.