Prevalence and genetic diversity of adeno-associated viruses in bats from China

Bats are increasingly being recognized as important natural reservoirs of different viruses Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are widely distributed in primates and their distribution in bats is unknown. In this study, a total of 370 faecal swab samples from 19 bat species were collected from various provinces of China and examined for the presence of AAVs The mean prevalence rate was 22.4 % (83 positives out of 370 samples), ranging from 10 to 38 9% among different bat species The genome sequence spanning the entire rep-cap ORFs was determined from one chosen AAV-positive sample (designated BtAAV-YNM). Phylogenetic analysis of the entire rep-cap ORF coding sequences suggested that BtAAV-YNM is relatively distant to known primate AAVs, but phylogenetically closer to porcine AAV strain Po3 Further analysis of the partial cap ORF sequences of bat AAV samples (n=49) revealed a remarkably large genetic diversity, with an average pairwise nucleotide identity of only 84 3% Co-presence of multiple distinctive genotypes of bat AAV within an individual sample was also observed. These results demonstrated that diverse AAVs might be widely distributed in bat populations