| identification of group a rotaviruses from zambian fruit bats provides evidence for long-distance dispersal events in africa. | group a rotavirus (rva) is a major cause of diarrhea in children worldwide. although rva infects many animals, little is known about rva in bats. the present study investigated the genetic diversity of rva in zambian bats. we identified rva from two straw-colored fruit bats (eidolon helvum) and an egyptian fruit bat (rousettus aegyptiacus), and analyzed the genome sequences of these strains. genome segments of the rva strains from zambian e. helvum showed 97%-99% nucleotide sequence identity wit ... | 2018 | 29792990 |
| marburg virus infection in egyptian rousette bats, south africa, 2013-20141. | we detected a high seroprevalence of marburg virus (marv) antibodies in fruit bats in south africa; 19.1% of recaptured bats seroconverted. the marv rna isolated closely resembled the 1975 ozolin strain. these findings indicate endemic marv circulation in bats in south africa and should inform policies on marv disease risk reduction. | 2018 | 29774854 |
| the egyptian rousette genome reveals unexpected features of bat antiviral immunity. | bats harbor many viruses asymptomatically, including several notorious for causing extreme virulence in humans. to identify differences between antiviral mechanisms in humans and bats, we sequenced, assembled, and analyzed the genome of rousettus aegyptiacus, a natural reservoir of marburg virus and the only known reservoir for any filovirus. we found an expanded and diversified klrc/klrd family of natural killer cell receptors, mhc class i genes, and type i interferons, which dramatically diffe ... | 2018 | 29706541 |
| 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (alpha-chlorohydrin) disrupts spermatogenesis and causes spermatotoxicity in males of the egyptian fruit-bat (rousettus aegyptiacus). | we evaluated the sterilizing effect of 3-monochloropropane-1, 2-diol (3-mcpd) in male egyptian fruit bats (rousettus aegyptiacus). we used three groups. one was treated with 70 mg/kg 3-mcpd for 4 days. the second group was treated with 3-mcpd as a bait formulation (known concentration of 3-mcpd mixed with a known amount of food). the third group was untreated controls. we compared the weights of the reproductive organs, histology of the testes, occurrence of spermatogenesis, and the count, motil ... | 2018 | 29595063 |
| iron storage disease (hemochromatosis) and hepcidin response to iron load in two species of pteropodid fruit bats relative to the common vampire bat. | hepcidin is the key regulator of iron homeostasis in the body. iron storage disease (hemochromatosis) is a frequent cause of liver disease and mortality in captive egyptian fruit bats (rousettus aegyptiacus), but reasons underlying this condition are unknown. hereditary hemochromatosis in humans is due to deficiency of hepcidin or resistance to the action of hepcidin. here, we investigated the role of hepcidin in iron metabolism in one species of pteropodid bat that is prone to iron storage dise ... | 2018 | 29594459 |
| evaluation of injectable anaesthesia with five medetomidine-midazolam based combinations in egyptian fruit bats ( rousettus aegyptiacus). | egyptian fruit bats are increasingly used as model animals in neuroscience research. our aim was to characterize suitable injectable anaesthesia for this species, possibly replacing inhalant anaesthesia, thus minimizing occupational health hazards. eight bats were randomly assigned by a crossover design for subcutaneously administered combinations of medetomidine-midazolam with: saline (mm-sal), ketamine (mm-ket), fentanyl (mm-fen), morphine (mm-mor), or butorphanol (mm-but). the anaesthetic dep ... | 2018 | 29448876 |
| tongue-driven sonar beam steering by a lingual-echolocating fruit bat. | animals enhance sensory acquisition from a specific direction by movements of head, ears, or eyes. as active sensing animals, echolocating bats also aim their directional sonar beam to selectively "illuminate" a confined volume of space, facilitating efficient information processing by reducing echo interference and clutter. such sonar beam control is generally achieved by head movements or shape changes of the sound-emitting mouth or nose. however, lingual-echolocating egyptian fruit bats, rous ... | 2017 | 29244805 |
| habitat use, but not gene flow, is influenced by human activities in two ecotypes of egyptian fruit bat (rousettus aegyptiacus). | understanding the ecological, behavioural and evolutionary response of organisms to changing environments is of primary importance in a human-altered world. it is crucial to elucidate how human activities alter gene flow and what are the consequences for the genetic structure of a species. we studied two lineages of the egyptian fruit bat (rousettus aegyptiacus) throughout the contact zone between mesic and arid ecozones in the middle east to evaluate the species' response to the growing proport ... | 2017 | 28950408 |
| refractometric urine specific gravity of free-living egyptian fruit bats (rousettus aegyptiacus). | in both human and veterinary medicine, urine specific gravity (usg) is commonly measured by refractometry to indirectly reflect the osmolality of urine to thereby evaluate the kidney's ability to concentrate or dilute urine according to physiologic need and certain disease conditions. however, for accurate interpretation of the significance of any value, knowledge of the expected usg for the healthy species in question is required. it is generally believed that fruit bats, and egyptian fruit bat ... | 2017 | 28920781 |
| a single bat species in cameroon harbors multiple highly divergent papillomaviruses in stool identified by metagenomics analysis. | a number of pvs have been described in bats but to the best of our knowledge not from feces. using a previously described netovir protocol, eidolon helvum pooled fecal samples (eh) were treated and sequenced by illumina next generation sequencing technology. two complete genomes of novel pvs (ehpv2 and ehpv3) and 3 partial sequences (batpv61, batpv890a and batpv890b) were obtained and analysis showed that the ehpv2 and ehpv3 major capsid proteins cluster with and share 60-64% nucleotide identity ... | 2016 | 32289018 |
| severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 natural animal reservoirs and experimental models: systematic review. | the current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2) outbreak has been rapidly spreading worldwide, causing serious global concern. the role that animal hosts play in disease transmission is still understudied and researchers wish to find suitable animal models for fundamental research and drug discovery. in this systematic review, we aimed to compile and discuss all articles that describe experimental or natural infections with sars-cov-2, from the initial discovery of the v ... | 2020 | 33206434 |
| subgenomic flavivirus rna (sfrna) associated with asian lineage zika virus identified in three species of ugandan bats (family pteropodidae). | serological cross-reactivity among flaviviruses makes determining the prior arbovirus exposure of animals challenging in areas where multiple flavivirus strains are circulating. we hypothesized that prior infection with zikv could be confirmed through the presence of subgenomic flavivirus rna (sfrna) of the 3' untranslated region (utr), which persists in tissues due to xrn-1 stalling during rna decay. we amplified zikv sfrna but not ns5 from three experimentally-infected jamaican fruit bats, sup ... | 2021 | 33863991 |
| human-pathogenic kasokero virus in field-collected ticks. | kasokero virus (kasv; genus orthonairovirus) was first isolated in 1977 at uganda virus research institute from serum collected from rousettus aegyptiacus bats captured at kasokero cave, uganda. during virus characterization studies at the institute, 4 laboratory-associated infections resulted in mild to severe disease. although orthonairoviruses are typically associated with vertebrate and tick hosts, a tick vector of kasv never has been reported. we tested 786 ornithodoros (reticulinasus) fain ... | 2020 | 33219649 |
| egyptian fruit bats (rousettus aegyptiacus) were resistant to experimental inoculation with avian-origin influenza a virus of subtype h9n2, but are susceptible to experimental infection with bat-borne h9n2 virus. | influenza a viruses (iav) of subtype h9n2, endemic in world-wide poultry holdings, are reported to cause spill-over infections to pigs and humans and have also contributed substantially to recent reassortment-derived pre-pandemic zoonotic viruses of concern, such as the asian h7n9 viruses. recently, a h9n2 bat influenza a virus was found in egyptian fruit bats (rousettus aegyptiacus), raising the question of whether this bat species is a suitable host for iav. here, we studied the susceptibility ... | 2021 | 33919890 |
| genomic features of humoral immunity support tolerance model in egyptian rousette bats. | bats asymptomatically harbor many viruses that can cause severe human diseases. the egyptian rousette bat (erb) is the only known reservoir for marburgviruses and sosuga virus, making it an exceptional animal model to study antiviral mechanisms in an asymptomatic host. with this goal in mind, we constructed and annotated the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus, finding an expansion on immunoglobulin variable genes associated with protective human antibodies to different viruses. we also annotated t ... | 2021 | 34010652 |
| biological characteristics and permissiveness to viruses of diploid kidney cells strain from the bat nathusius' pipistrelle (pipistrellus nathusii keyserling & blasius, 1839; chiroptera: microchiroptera: vespertilionidae). | bats are an epidemiologically important natural reservoir of viruses of various taxonomic groups, including causative agents of especially dangerous infections of humans and animals. considering the relevance of arbovirus infections, it seems advisable to study the spectrum of the sensitivity of cells derived from bats inhabiting and migrating on the territory of the russian federation to causative agents of vector-borne diseases of animals.the study aimed to obtain a diploid strain of cells fro ... | 2021 | 33683063 |