Evidence for genetic variation in Natterer's bats (Myotis nattereri) across three regions in Germany but no evidence for co-variation with their associated astroviruses.

BACKGROUND: As bats have recently been described to harbor many different viruses, several studies have investigated the genetic co-variation between viruses and different bat species. However, little is known about the genetic co-variation of viruses and different populations of the same bat species, although such information is needed for an understanding of virus transmission dynamics within a given host species. We hypothesized that if virus transmission between host populations depends on events linked to gene flow in the bats, genetic co-variation should exist between host populations and astroviruses. RESULTS: We used 19 nuclear and one mitochondrial microsatellite loci to analyze the genetic population structure of the Natterer's bat (Myotis nattereri) within and among populations at different geographical scales in Germany. Further, we correlated the observed bat population structure to that of partial astrovirus sequences (323-394 nt fragments of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene) obtained from the same bat populations. Our analyses revealed that the studied bat colonies can be grouped into three distinct genetic clusters, corresponding to the three geographic regions sampled. Furthermore, we observed an overall isolation-by-distance pattern, while no significant pattern was observed within a geographic region. Moreover, we found no correlation between the genetic distances among the bat populations and the astrovirus sequences they harbored. Even though high genetic similarity of some of the astrovirus haplotypes found in several different regions was detected, identical astrovirus haplotypes were not shared between different sampled regions. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic population structure of the bat host suggests that mating sites where several local breeding colonies meet act as stepping-stones for gene flow. Identical astrovirus haplotypes were not shared between different sampled regions suggesting that astroviruses are mostly transmitted among host colonies at the local scale. Nevertheless, high genetic similarity of some of the astrovirus haplotypes found in several different regions implies that occasional transmission across regions with subsequent mutations of the virus haplotypes does occur.

Insectivorous bats carry host specific astroviruses and coronaviruses across different regions in Germany.

Recently several infectious agents with a zoonotic potential have been detected in different bat species. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on the transmission dynamics within and between bat species, as well as from bats to other mammals. To better understand these processes, it is important to compare the phylogenetic relationships between different agents to that of their respective hosts. In this study, we analysed more than 950 urine, faeces and oral swab samples collected from 653 bats from mainly four species (Myotis nattereri, Myotis bechsteinii, Myotis daubentonii, and Plecotus auritus) for the presence of coronavirus, paramyxovirus and astrovirus related nucleic acids located in three different regions of Germany. Using hemi-nested reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR amplification of fragments within the highly conserved regions of the respective RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) genes, we detected astrovirus sequences at an overall detection rate of 25.8% of the analysed animals, with a maximum of 65% in local populations. The detection rates for coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses were distinctly lower, ranging between 1.4% and 3.1%. Interestingly, the sequence similarities in samples collected from the same bat species in different geographical areas were distinctly larger than the sequence similarities between samples from different species sampled at the same location. This indicates that host specificity may be more important than host ecology for the presence of certain viruses in bats.