Ecological and Conservation Significance of Herpesvirus Infection in Neotropical Bats.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Moreira Marrero L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8238035 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Bats (Order: Chiroptera) harbor a high diversity of emerging pathogens presumably because their ability to fly and social behavior favor the maintenance, evolution, and dissemination of these pathogens. Until 2012, there was only one report of the presence of Hantavirus in bats. Historically, it was thought that these viruses were harbored primarily by rodent and insectivore small mammals. Recently, new species of hantaviruses have been identified in bats from Africa and Asia continents expanding the potential reservoirs and range of these viruses. To assess the potential of Neotropical bats as hosts for hantaviruses and its transmission dynamics in nature, we tested 53 bats for active hantaviral infection from specimens collected in Southeastern Brazil. Part of the hantaviral S segment was amplified from the frugivorous Carollia perspicillata and the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus. DNA sequencing showed high similarity with the genome of Araraquara orthohantavirus (ARQV), which belongs to one of the more lethal hantavirus clades (Andes orthohantavirus). ARQV-like infection was detected in the blood, urine, and organs of D. rotundus. Therefore, we describe a systemic infection in Neotropical bats by a human pathogenic Hantavirus. We also propose here a schematic transmission dynamics of hantavirus in the study region. Our results give insights to new, under-appreciated questions that need to be addressed in future studies to clarify hantavirus transmission in nature and avoid hantavirus outbreaks.
| S-EPMC5998146 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Bats are hosts of diverse coronaviruses (CoVs) known to potentially cross the host-species barrier. For analysing coronavirus diversity in a bat species-rich country, a total of 421 anal swabs/faecal samples from Costa Rican bats were screened for CoV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene sequences by a pancoronavirus PCR. Six families, 24 genera and 41 species of bats were analysed. The detection rate for CoV was 1%. Individuals (n = 4) from four different species of frugivorous (Artibeus jamaicensis, Carollia perspicillata and Carollia castanea) and nectivorous (Glossophaga soricina) bats were positive for coronavirus-derived nucleic acids. Analysis of 440 nt. RdRp sequences allocated all Costa Rican bat CoVs to the α-CoV group. Several CoVs sequences clustered near previously described CoVs from the same species of bat, but were phylogenetically distant from the human CoV sequences identified to date, suggesting no recent spillover events. The Glossophaga soricina CoV sequence is sufficiently dissimilar (26% homology to the closest known bat CoVs) to represent a unique coronavirus not clustering near other CoVs found in the same bat species so far, implying an even higher CoV diversity than previously suspected.
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Project description:DNA barcoding using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (COI) is frequently employed as an efficient method of species identification in animal life and may also be used to estimate species richness, particularly in understudied faunas. Despite numerous past demonstrations of the efficiency of this technique, few studies have attempted to employ DNA barcoding methodologies on a large geographic scale, particularly within tropical regions. In this study we survey current and potential species diversity using DNA barcodes with a collection of more than 9000 individuals from 163 species of Neotropical bats (order Chiroptera). This represents one of the largest surveys to employ this strategy on any animal group and is certainly the largest to date for land vertebrates. Our analysis documents the utility of this tool over great geographic distances and across extraordinarily diverse habitats. Among the 163 included species 98.8% possessed distinct sets of COI haplotypes making them easily recognizable at this locus. We detected only a single case of shared haplotypes. Intraspecific diversity in the region was high among currently recognized species (mean of 1.38%, range 0-11.79%) with respect to birds, though comparable to other bat assemblages. In 44 of 163 cases, well-supported, distinct intraspecific lineages were identified which may suggest the presence of cryptic species though mean and maximum intraspecific divergence were not good predictors of their presence. In all cases, intraspecific lineages require additional investigation using complementary molecular techniques and additional characters such as morphology and acoustic data. Our analysis provides strong support for the continued assembly of DNA barcoding libraries and ongoing taxonomic investigation of bats.
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Project description:Herpesviruses have been reported in several marsupial species, but molecular classification has been limited to four herpesviruses in macropodids, a gammaherpesvirus in two antechinus species (Antechinus flavipes and Antechinus agilis), a gammaherpesvirus in a potoroid, the eastern bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) and two gammaherpesviruses in koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). In this study we examined a range of Australian marsupials for the presence of herpesviruses using molecular and serological techniques, and also assessed risk factors associated with herpesvirus infection. Our study population included 99 koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), 96 eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), 50 Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) and 33 common wombats (Vombatus ursinius). In total, six novel herpesviruses (one alphaherpesvirus and five gammaherpesviruses) were identified in various host species. The overall prevalence of detection of herpesvirus DNA in our study population was 27.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) of 22.6-32.2%), but this varied between species and reached as high as 45.4% (95% CI 28.1-63.7%) in common wombats. Serum antibodies to two closely related macropodid herpesviruses (macropodid herpesvirus 1 and 2) were detected in 44.3% (95% CI 33.1-55.9%) of animals tested. This also varied between species and was as high as 92% (95% CI 74.0-99.0%) in eastern grey kangaroos. A number of epidemiological variables were identified as positive predictors for the presence of herpesvirus DNA in the marsupial samples evaluated. The most striking association was observed in koalas, where the presence of Chlamydia pecorum DNA was strongly associated with the presence of herpesvirus DNA (Odds Ratio = 60, 95% CI 12.1-297.8). Our results demonstrate the common presence of herpesviruses in Australian marsupials and provide directions for future research.
| S-EPMC4519311 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The loss of previously adaptive traits is typically linked to relaxation in selection, yet the molecular steps leading to such repeated losses are rarely known. Molecular studies of loss have tended to focus on gene sequences alone, but overlooking other aspects of protein expression might underestimate phenotypic diversity. Insights based almost solely on opsin gene evolution, for instance, have made mammalian color vision a textbook example of phenotypic loss. We address this gap by investigating retention and loss of opsin genes, transcripts, and proteins across ecologically diverse noctilionoid bats. We find multiple, independent losses of short-wave-sensitive opsins. Mismatches between putatively functional DNA sequences, mRNA transcripts, and proteins implicate transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes in the ongoing loss of S-opsins in some noctilionoid bats. Our results provide a snapshot of evolution in progress during phenotypic trait loss, and suggest vertebrate visual phenotypes cannot always be predicted from genotypes alone.
| S-EPMC6333445 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Seasonality causes fluctuations in resource availability, affecting the presence and abundance of animal species. The impacts of these oscillations on wildlife populations can be exacerbated by habitat fragmentation. We assessed differences in bat species abundance between the wet and dry season in a fragmented landscape in the Central Amazon characterized by primary forest fragments embedded in a secondary forest matrix. We also evaluated whether the relative importance of local vegetation structure versus landscape characteristics (composition and configuration) in shaping bat abundance patterns varied between seasons. Our working hypotheses were that abundance responses are species as well as season specific, and that in the wet season, local vegetation structure is a stronger determinant of bat abundance than landscape-scale attributes. Generalized linear mixed-effects models in combination with hierarchical partitioning revealed that relationships between species abundances and local vegetation structure and landscape characteristics were both season specific and scale dependent. Overall, landscape characteristics were more important than local vegetation characteristics, suggesting that landscape structure is likely to play an even more important role in landscapes with higher fragment-matrix contrast. Responses varied between frugivores and animalivores. In the dry season, frugivores responded more to compositional metrics, whereas during the wet season, local and configurational metrics were more important. Animalivores showed similar patterns in both seasons, responding to the same group of metrics in both seasons. Differences in responses likely reflect seasonal differences in the phenology of flowering and fruiting between primary and secondary forests, which affected the foraging behavior and habitat use of bats. Management actions should encompass multiscale approaches to account for the idiosyncratic responses of species to seasonal variation in resource abundance and consequently to local and landscape scale attributes.
| S-EPMC5468172 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hummingbirds and nectar bats are the only vertebrates that are specialized for hovering in front of flowers to forage nectar. How their aerodynamic performance compares is, however, unclear. To hover, hummingbirds consistently generate about a quarter of the vertical aerodynamic force required to support their body weight during the upstroke. In contrast, generalist birds in slow hovering flight generate little upstroke weight support. We report that nectar bats also generate elevated weight support during the upstroke compared to generalist bats. Comparing 20 Neotropical species, we show how nectarivorous birds and bats converged on this ability by inverting their respective feathered and membrane wings more than species with other diets. However, while hummingbirds converged on an efficient horizontal wingbeat to mostly generate lift, bats rely on lift and drag during the downstroke to fully support their body weight. Furthermore, whereas the ability of nectar bats to aerodynamically support their body weight during the upstroke is elevated, it is much smaller than that of hummingbirds. Bats compensate by generating more aerodynamic weight support during their extended downstroke. Although, in principle, it requires more aerodynamic power to hover using this method, bats have adapted by evolving much larger wings for their body weight. Therefore, the net aerodynamic induced power required to hover is similar among hummingbirds and bats per unit body mass. This mechanistic insight into how feathered wings and membrane wings ultimately require similar aerodynamic power to hover may inform analogous design trade-offs in aerial robots.
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Project description:Demographic and environmental drivers of metagenomic viral diversity in vampire bats
| PRJEB34487 | ENA
Project description:Morphology has a direct influence on animal fitness. Studies addressing the identification of patterns and variations across several guilds are fundamental in ecomorphological research. Wings are the core of ecological morphology in bats; nevertheless, individual bones and structures that support the wing, including metacarpals, phalanges and the length of digits, have rarely been the subject of comprehensive research when studying wing morphology. Here, I analyzed morphological variations of wing structures across 11 bat guilds and how individual bone structures are correlated to diet, foraging mode and habitat use. I obtained wing measurements from 1512 voucher specimens of 97 species. All the specimens analyzed came from the Mammalian Collection at the Museo Javeriano de Historia Natural of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (MPUJ-MAMM) (Bogotá, Colombia). Positive correlations between size and the length of the third and fifth digit were detected. Bat guilds that capture their preys using aerial strategy in uncluttered habitats had longer third digits but short fifth digits compared to guilds that rely on gleaning strategy and forage in highly cluttered space. Although terminal phalanges were shown to be important structures for guild classification, metacarpals were strongly related to aerial foragers from uncluttered habitats because of their potential role in flight performance and ecological adaptations. Results show that habitat use, as well as foraging mode, are reflected in wing structures. Different wing traits to those evaluated in this study should be considered to better understand the ecological interactions, foraging strategy, wing adaptations, and flight performance in Neotropical bats.
| S-EPMC8181164 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMixed-species groups in animals have been shown to confer antipredator, foraging and other benefits to their members that may provide selective advantages. In most cases, however, it is unclear whether functional benefits are a principal driver of heterospecific groups, or whether groups simply result from simultaneous exploitation of common resources. Mixed-species groups that form independently of environmental conditions may, however, evidence direct benefits of species associations. Bats are among the most gregarious mammals, with sometimes thousands of individuals of various species roosting communally. Despite numerous potential functional benefits of such mixed-species roosting groups, interspecific attraction has never been shown. To explore alternative explanations for mixed-species roosting, we studied roost selection in a speciose neotropical understory bat community in lowland rainforest in Costa Rica. Long term roost data were recorded over 10 years in a total of 133 roosts comprising both natural roosts and structurally uniform artificial roosts. We modelled bat roost occupancy and abundance in each roost type and in forest and pasture habitats to quantify the effects of roost- and environmental variability.ResultsWe found that bat species presence in natural roosts is predictable from habitat and structural roost parameters, but that the presence and abundance of other bat species further modifies roost choice. One third of the 12 study species were found to actively associate with selected other bat species in roosts (e.g. Glossophaga commissarisi with Carollia sowelli). Other species did not engage in communal roosting, which in some cases indicates a role for negative interspecific interactions, such as roost competition.ConclusionsMixed-species roosting may provide thermoregulatory benefits, reduce intraspecific competition and promote interspecific information transfer, and hence some heterospecific associations may be selected for in bats. Overall, our study contributes to an improved understanding of the array of factors that shape diverse tropical bat communities and drive the dynamics of heterospecific grouping in mammals more generally.
| S-EPMC8507185 | biostudies-literature