A recently identified coronavirus in South America bears striking genetic parallels to the pathogen responsible for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), originally pinpointed in 2012. Scientists have earmarked 2025 for experimental evaluations to ascertain its potential transmissibility to humans.
In an ambitious multinational collaboration, researchers from São Paulo and Ceará, alongside experts from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in China, have unveiled a previously undocumented coronavirus in chiropterans. Notably, this marks the first identification of a virus in South America exhibiting a close phylogenetic relationship with MERS-CoV, according to scitechdaily.com.
These groundbreaking revelations were meticulously detailed in a scholarly publication in the Journal of Medical Virology (JMV).
Potential Human Interaction Under Investigation
“At this juncture, its capability to infect humans remains uncertain. However, our genomic analysis revealed fragments of the virus’s spike protein, which functions as a key interface for cellular invasion, indicating a possible affinity for the same receptor targeted by MERS-CoV,” explained Bruna Stefanie Silvério, the paper’s lead author.
Silvério, a PhD candidate at the Federal University of São Paulo’s Medical School (EPM-UNIFESP), previously earned a master’s degree from the same institution, supported by a scholarship from FAPESP.
Diversity Among Bat Coronaviruses
Through rigorous sampling, scientists extracted oral and rectal swabs from 16 bats in Fortaleza, Ceará’s capital. Genetic sequencing unveiled seven distinct coronaviruses within five specimens. The infected bats represented two disparate species: Molossus molossus, an insectivore, and Artibeus lituratus, a frugivore.
An earlier study conducted by LACEN Fortaleza and UNIFESP researchers had similarly detected rabies virus strains in bats, closely related to variants observed in marmosets, as per Scitechdaily.com.
Bats as Viral Reservoirs: A Case for Surveillance
“Chiropterans serve as significant reservoirs for an array of viruses, underscoring the imperative need for continuous epidemiological surveillance. Proactive monitoring allows us to catalog circulating pathogens and assess potential zoonotic spillover risks to other species, including humans,” asserted Ricardo Durães-Carvalho, the study’s senior author and Silvério’s doctoral advisor.
Durães-Carvalho spearheads the research initiative Bats: Epidemiological Surveillance, High-Resolution Phylodynamics, and Biotechnological Peptide Exploration in Emerging Viruses, a project receiving financial backing from FAPESP.
The MERS Connection: Genetic Overlap Raises Alarms
Originally identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012, MERS-CoV has since led to documented outbreaks across 27 nations, culminating in 858 recorded fatalities.
The Brazilian research team uncovered a genetic sequence in the newly discovered virus that exhibits 71.9 percent similarity to the MERS-CoV genome. Further analysis of the spike protein gene demonstrated a 71.74 percent resemblance to the MERS-CoV strain isolated in Saudi Arabia in 2015.
“Definitive confirmation of its ability to bind to human cells necessitates high-biosafety laboratory experimentation, which is slated to commence at HKU in 2025,” Silvério disclosed.
In preparation for this endeavor, she is gearing up for an academic internship at HKU’s School of Public Health, under the mentorship of Professor Leo L. M. Poon, an esteemed virologist and penultimate author of the JMV paper, according to the reports by Scitechdaily.com.
The Viral Spectrum: Same Bats, Different Pathogen
Prior investigations by the same research group had identified gemykibivirus-2, a human-associated virus, in one of the M. molossus bats studied at LACEN Fortaleza.
This viral entity bears an uncanny resemblance to a gemykibivirus previously detected in human cerebrospinal fluid samples. It has also surfaced in blood bank specimens, spurring an inquiry spearheaded by scientists at the Ribeirão Preto Blood Center and Butantan Institute in São Paulo, with support from FAPESP.
Historical records trace gemykibivirus to individuals afflicted with HIV, idiopathic sepsis, recurrent pericarditis, unexplained gastrointestinal disorders, and encephalitis. Remarkably, its presence in bats has never been documented before this study.
Bridging the Knowledge Gap
The identification of this virus necessitated the synthesis of novel primers—short RNA sequences engineered to facilitate DNA replication. These primers were meticulously crafted based on the genetic signature of gemykibivirus strains previously isolated in humans, as per Scitechdaily.com.
“A considerable void exists in available viral genomic databases, restricting our capacity for exhaustive analysis. Nevertheless, the detection of such obscure viral agents underscores the significance of our research and lays the groundwork for future scientific inquiries,” Silvério concluded.
