Ecology, evolution and spillover of coronaviruses from bats

Ruiz-Aravena, M. et al. (2022) Ecology, evolution and spillover of coronaviruses from bats. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 20(5), pp. 299-314. (doi: 10.1038/s41579-021-00652-2) (PMID:34799704) (PMCID:PMC8603903)

Abstract

In the past two decades, three coronaviruses with ancestral origins in bats have emerged and caused widespread outbreaks in humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Since the first SARS epidemic in 2002–2003, the appreciation of bats as key hosts of zoonotic coronaviruses has advanced rapidly. More than 4,000 coronavirus sequences from 14 bat families have been identified, yet the true diversity of bat coronaviruses is probably much greater. Given that bats are the likely evolutionary source for several human coronaviruses, including strains that cause mild upper respiratory tract disease, their role in historic and future pandemics requires ongoing investigation. We review and integrate information on bat–coronavirus interactions at the molecular, tissue, host and population levels. We identify critical gaps in knowledge of bat coronaviruses, which relate to spillover and pandemic risk, including the pathways to zoonotic spillover, the infection dynamics within bat reservoir hosts, the role of prior adaptation in intermediate hosts for zoonotic transmission and the viral genotypes or traits that predict zoonotic capacity and pandemic potential. Filling these knowledge gaps may help prevent the next pandemic.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Work related to this Review was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (PREEMPT D18AC00031). M.R.-A., D.N.J., M.K.K., C.F., D.C., N.B., A.J.P., O.R., P.J.H. and R.K.P. were supported by the US National Science Foundation (DEB-1716698). R.K.P. was supported by the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Hatch project 1015891). J.O.L.-S. and A.G. were supported by the UCLA AIDS Institute and Charity Treks and by the US National Science Foundation (DEB-1557022). C.E.S was supported by the US National Institutes of Health (T32 GM008185-33). C.K.Y., J.R.P. and V.J.M. are supported by the Intramural Research Program of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, US National Institutes of Health. A.J.P. was supported by an ARC DECRA fellowship (DE190100710). O.R. is supported by the ALBORADA Trust. E.J. is funded by a research fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (438001934). C.E.B. was funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Miller Institute for Basic Research, a Branco Weiss Society in Science Fellowship and US National Institutes of Health grant R01AI129822-01. D.W.B., Y.Y.Y. and H.C.A. were supported by US National Institutes of Health grants R01AI109022 and R21AI142377.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Faust, Christina
• Authors: Ruiz-Aravena, M., McKee, C., Gamble, A., Lunn, T., Morris, A., Snedden, C. E., Yinda, C. K., Port, J. R., Buchholz, D. W., Yeo, Y. Y., Faust, C., Jax, E., Dee, L., Jones, D. N., Kessler, M. K., Falvo, C., Crowley, D., Bharti, N., Brook, C. E., Aguilar, H. C., Peel, A. J., Restif, O., Schountz, T., Parrish, C. R., Gurley, E. S., Lloyd-Smith, J. O., Hudson, P. J., Munster, V. J., and Plowright, R. K.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: Nature Reviews Microbiology
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 1740-1526
• ISSN (Online): 1740-1534
• Published Online: 19 November 2021