Increased Susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> Bats to Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Challenge Despite Its Distinct Tropism for Gut Epithelia in Bats
Increasing evidence suggests bats are the ancestral hosts of the majority of coronaviruses. In general, coronaviruses primarily target the gastrointestinal system, while some strains, especially Betacoronaviruses with the most relevant representatives SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2, also cause s...
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2024-10-01
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| author | Björn-Patrick Mohl Claudia Blaurock Angele Breithaupt Alexander Riek John R. Speakman Catherine Hambly Marcel Bokelmann Gang Pei Balal Sadeghi Anca Dorhoi Anne Balkema-Buschmann |
| author_facet | Björn-Patrick Mohl Claudia Blaurock Angele Breithaupt Alexander Riek John R. Speakman Catherine Hambly Marcel Bokelmann Gang Pei Balal Sadeghi Anca Dorhoi Anne Balkema-Buschmann |
| author_sort | Björn-Patrick Mohl |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Increasing evidence suggests bats are the ancestral hosts of the majority of coronaviruses. In general, coronaviruses primarily target the gastrointestinal system, while some strains, especially Betacoronaviruses with the most relevant representatives SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2, also cause severe respiratory disease in humans and other mammals. We previously reported the susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> (Egyptian fruit bats) to intranasal SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we compared their permissiveness to an oral infection versus respiratory challenge (intranasal or orotracheal) by assessing virus shedding, host immune responses, tissue-specific pathology, and physiological parameters. While respiratory challenge with a moderate infection dose of 1 × 10<sup>4</sup> TCID<sub>50</sub> caused a systemic infection with oral and nasal shedding of replication-competent virus, the oral challenge only induced nasal shedding of low levels of viral RNA. Even after a challenge with a higher infection dose of 1 × 10<sup>6</sup> TCID<sub>50</sub>, no replication-competent virus was detectable in any of the samples of the orally challenged bats. We postulate that SARS-CoV-2 is inactivated by HCl and digested by pepsin in the stomach of <i>R. aegyptiacus</i>, thereby decreasing the efficiency of an oral infection. Therefore, fecal shedding of RNA seems to depend on systemic dissemination upon respiratory infection. These findings may influence our general understanding of the pathophysiology of coronavirus infections in bats. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c08bd3829f6f4c9a86be64dbb0359986 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj-art-c08bd3829f6f4c9a86be64dbb03599862024-11-26T18:25:25ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152024-10-011611171710.3390/v16111717Increased Susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> Bats to Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Challenge Despite Its Distinct Tropism for Gut Epithelia in BatsBjörn-Patrick Mohl0Claudia Blaurock1Angele Breithaupt2Alexander Riek3John R. Speakman4Catherine Hambly5Marcel Bokelmann6Gang Pei7Balal Sadeghi8Anca Dorhoi9Anne Balkema-Buschmann10Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, GermanyInstitute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, GermanyDepartment of Experimental Animal Facilities and Biorisk Management, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, GermanyInstitute of Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Doernbergstraße 25, 29223 Celle, GermanySchool of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, UKSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, UKInstitute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, GermanyInstitute of Immunology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, GermanyInstitute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, GermanyInstitute of Immunology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, GermanyInstitute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Suedufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, GermanyIncreasing evidence suggests bats are the ancestral hosts of the majority of coronaviruses. In general, coronaviruses primarily target the gastrointestinal system, while some strains, especially Betacoronaviruses with the most relevant representatives SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2, also cause severe respiratory disease in humans and other mammals. We previously reported the susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> (Egyptian fruit bats) to intranasal SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we compared their permissiveness to an oral infection versus respiratory challenge (intranasal or orotracheal) by assessing virus shedding, host immune responses, tissue-specific pathology, and physiological parameters. While respiratory challenge with a moderate infection dose of 1 × 10<sup>4</sup> TCID<sub>50</sub> caused a systemic infection with oral and nasal shedding of replication-competent virus, the oral challenge only induced nasal shedding of low levels of viral RNA. Even after a challenge with a higher infection dose of 1 × 10<sup>6</sup> TCID<sub>50</sub>, no replication-competent virus was detectable in any of the samples of the orally challenged bats. We postulate that SARS-CoV-2 is inactivated by HCl and digested by pepsin in the stomach of <i>R. aegyptiacus</i>, thereby decreasing the efficiency of an oral infection. Therefore, fecal shedding of RNA seems to depend on systemic dissemination upon respiratory infection. These findings may influence our general understanding of the pathophysiology of coronavirus infections in bats.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/16/11/1717SARS-CoV-2<i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i>tissue tropismrespiratory tractdigestive tractviral infection |
| spellingShingle | Björn-Patrick Mohl Claudia Blaurock Angele Breithaupt Alexander Riek John R. Speakman Catherine Hambly Marcel Bokelmann Gang Pei Balal Sadeghi Anca Dorhoi Anne Balkema-Buschmann Increased Susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> Bats to Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Challenge Despite Its Distinct Tropism for Gut Epithelia in Bats Viruses SARS-CoV-2 <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> tissue tropism respiratory tract digestive tract viral infection |
| title | Increased Susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> Bats to Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Challenge Despite Its Distinct Tropism for Gut Epithelia in Bats |
| title_full | Increased Susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> Bats to Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Challenge Despite Its Distinct Tropism for Gut Epithelia in Bats |
| title_fullStr | Increased Susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> Bats to Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Challenge Despite Its Distinct Tropism for Gut Epithelia in Bats |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increased Susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> Bats to Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Challenge Despite Its Distinct Tropism for Gut Epithelia in Bats |
| title_short | Increased Susceptibility of <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> Bats to Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Challenge Despite Its Distinct Tropism for Gut Epithelia in Bats |
| title_sort | increased susceptibility of i rousettus aegyptiacus i bats to respiratory sars cov 2 challenge despite its distinct tropism for gut epithelia in bats |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 <i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i> tissue tropism respiratory tract digestive tract viral infection |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/16/11/1717 |
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