Cell Sushuo/Shi Mang collaborative team published major research progress on virus diversity and potential risk of virus transmission, expanding the understanding of the diversity of viruses carried by a variety of wild animals

According to statistics, more than 70% of human infectious disease pathogens come from animals.
For example, civet cats are the intermediate host of SARS-COV, and pangolins are potential intermediate hosts of new coronavirus (SARS-COV-2)
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Therefore, studying the virus carrying situation and diversity of wild animals that may be in close contact with humans or livestock is crucial to the prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases in humans and livestock
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On February 16, 2022, Cell published online the research paper "Virome characterization of game animals in China reveals a spectrum of emerging pathogens" completed by Nanjing Agricultural University in cooperation with Sun Yat-sen University and other domestic and foreign institutions, and published the diversity of viruses and potential transmission risks of viruses Major research progress has expanded the understanding of the diversity of viruses carried by a variety of wild animals
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This is the first time that Nanjing Agricultural University has published research results in Cell as the first corresponding author unit, and it is also a breakthrough research progress in the field of animal infectious disease prevention and control in China
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 The paper conducted a large-scale viral transcriptome study on samples of 1941 game animals from 18 species in 20 provinces in China, and found that 102 viruses in 13 virus families can infect mammals, of which 65 viruses were discovered for the first time Exist in mammals, such as: nutria rotavirus (Coypu rotavirus), pangolin pestivirus (Pangolin pestivirus), Asian badger vesivirus, Porcupine nidovirus and rodent hepatitis virus (Rodent hepacivirus) and so on
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This study greatly expands the understanding of the diversity of viruses carried by a variety of wild animals, and provides an important scientific basis for the early warning and prevention of human and livestock diseases
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 Figure 1: Cell cover The study found human parainfluenza virus (type II) in pangolin samples with multiple diseases, and rotavirus and highly differentiated canine coronavirus in raccoon dogs with diarrhea.
Among them, the study found that canine coronavirus The virus has a multiple history of recombination and shares 93.
65-94.
27% genomic identity with recently reported human disease-causing recombinant CCoV strains from Malaysia and Haiti
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The study also found a variety of high abundance of rotavirus (Rotavirus), including A, B, C, D and I groups (Figure 2)
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Animals such as rabbits, raccoon dogs, porcupines and nutria all carry rotavirus group
A.

At the same time, co-infection of rotavirus groups A, C and I with high abundance was found in raccoon dogs with diarrhea, suggesting that rotavirus has cross-species transmission and public health risks
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The above results indicate that the close communication between humans and "game" animals can cause two-way pathogen transmission and communication from "game" animals to humans or from humans to game animals
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 Figure 2: Interspecific phylogenetic relationships of 12 major vertebrate-associated virus families.
Although these wild animals are not necessarily reservoir hosts for these high-risk viruses (Figure 3), they may act as intermediate hosts to transmit pathogens through cross-species transmission for humans and livestock
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The findings also show that some seemingly healthy animals can also carry viruses closely related to human disease and continue to spread between different species
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This once again highlights the risks of trade, consumption and close contact with game animals, and the importance of revealing wildlife as a potential driver of disease emergence
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At the same time, the research results can provide an important basis for the development of diagnostic methods and vaccines for new viruses
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Figure 3: Association analysis between wild animals carrying potential zoonotic viruses and their hosts He Wanting, a doctoral student at Nanjing Agricultural University, Hou Xin, a doctoral student at Sun Yat-Sen University, and Zhao Jin, a postgraduate student at Nanjing Agricultural University are the co-first authors of the paper
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The co-corresponding authors of the paper are Professor Su Shuo of Nanjing Agricultural University, Professor Shi Mang of Sun Yat-sen University, and Professor Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney
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 Original link: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
cell.
2022.
02.
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