Virome characterization and identification of a putative parvovirus and poxvirus in bat ectoparasites of Yunnan Province, China

Ectoparasites found on bats are known to contain important microbes. However, the viruses hosted by these obligate parasites are understudied. This has led to the near oversight of the potential role of these ectoparasites in virus maintenance and transmission from bats to other interacting species and the environment. Here, we sampled bat ectoparasites parasitizing a diverse selection of bat species in the families Rhinolophidae, Vespertilionidae, Megadermatidae, Hipposideridae and Pteropodidae in Yunnan Province, China. We show that the ectoparasite prevalence was generally higher in male compared to female bats. Most ectoparasites were found to fall within the Nycteribiidae, Spinturnicidae and Streblidae bat ectoparasite families. We subsequently applied a non-biased sequencing of libraries prepared from the pooled ectoparasites, followed by an in-silico virus-centric analysis of the resultant reads. We show that ectoparasites hosted by the sampled families of bats are found to carry, in addition to a diverse set of phages, vertebrate and insect viruses in the families Aliusviridae, Ascoviridae, Chuviridae, Circoviridae, Flaviviridae, Hepadnaviridae, Hepeviridae, Herpesviridae, Iridoviridae, Marseilleviridae, Nairoviridae, Orthomyxoviridae, Parvoviridae, Poxviridae, Reoviridae, Retroviridae, and Rhabdoviridae. We further report a partial Parvovirus VP1/VP2 gene and partial Poxvirus ubiquitin-like gene predicted by two independent next generation sequencing data analysis pipelines. This study describes the natural virome of bat ectoparasites, providing a platform for understanding the role these ectoparasites play in the maintenance and spread of viruses to other animals.

Automated summary

This study sampled bat ectoparasites from different bat species in Yunnan Province, China and analyzed their viral composition. The results showed that these ectoparasites harbor a variety of vertebrate and insect viruses, providing new insights into the role of bat ectoparasites in virus maintenance and transmission.