Open AccessBats Are Natural Reservoirs of SARS-Like Coronaviruses
Author(s) -
Wendong Li,
ZhengLi Shi,
Meng Yu,
Wuze Ren,
Craig Smith,
Jonathan H. Epstein,
Hanzhong Wang,
Gary Crameri,
Zhìhóng Hú,
Huajun Zhang,
Jianhong Zhang,
Jennifer A. McEachern,
Hume Field,
Peter Daszak,
Bryan T. Eaton,
Shuyi Zhang,
LinFa Wang
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 12.556
H-Index - 1186
eISSN - 1095-9203
pISSN - 0036-8075
DOI - 10.1126/science.1118391
Subject(s) - coronavirus , outbreak , virology , covid-19 , biology , nidovirales , sars virus , coronaviridae , betacoronavirus , natural reservoir , severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus , severe acute respiratory syndrome , virus , medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , pathology
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) emerged in 2002 to 2003 in southern China. The origin of its etiological agent, the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), remains elusive. Here we report that species of bats are a natural host of coronaviruses closely related to those responsible for the SARS outbreak. These viruses, termed SARS-like coronaviruses (SL-CoVs), display greater genetic variation than SARS-CoV isolated from humans or from civets. The human and civet isolates of SARS-CoV nestle phylogenetically within the spectrum of SL-CoVs, indicating that the virus responsible for the SARS outbreak was a member of this coronavirus group.
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