Coronavirus Diversity in an Italian Bat Population Sampled During the Pandemic in 2020.
8 affiliations
- 1Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy.
- 2Friulian Museum of Natural History, 33100 Udine, Italy.
- 3Independent Researcher, 33080 Frisanco, Italy.
- 4Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
- 5Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
- 6Museum of Nature and Humankind, University of Padova, 35137 Padova, Italy.
- 7Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Torino, 10095 Torino, Italy.
- 8Department of Biology, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy.
Abstract
Evolutionary studies have established a correlation between human and bat coronaviruses (CoV), identifying bats as the natural reservoir for Coronaviridae. Over the past two decades, three major zoonotic spillover events have been described: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV), which caused significant global outbreaks, and SARS-CoV-2, which triggered the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these events, the true diversity of coronavirus species harbored by bats remains largely unmapped, even as the discovery of novel strains continues to accelerate. In this study, we analyzed 37 fecal swab samples collected in Northern Italy, targeting the bat genera Miniopterus, Myotis, and Rhinolophus. Coronaviruses were detected using a pan-coronavirus (Pan-CoV) nested RT-PCR in five bat samples: three tested positive for Alphacoronaviruses (Alpha-CoVs) and two for Betacoronaviruses (Beta-CoVs). Positive samples were subjected to Pan-CoV Illumina next-generation sequencing (NGS), and two samples yielded sufficient read depth for robust contig assembly. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the co-circulation of three distinct Alpha-CoVs within a Miniopterus schreibersii (M. schreibersii) fecal sample and the presence of a SARS-CoV-related strain in a Rhinolophus hipposideros (R. hipposideros) fecal sample. Both the Alpha-CoVs and the Beta-CoVs were most closely related to European strains. These findings confirm the widespread circulation of diverse CoVs in Italian bats and underscore the need for continued molecular epidemiological surveillance to unravel the full extent of CoV heterogeneity in European wildlife.
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BibTeX
@article{vaccari2026coronavirus,
title = {{Coronavirus Diversity in an Italian Bat Population Sampled During the Pandemic in 2020.}},
author = {Gabriele Vaccari and Ilaria Di Bartolo and Luca Dorigo and Angelo Leandro Dreon and Stefano Toppo and Margherita Morpurgo and Edoardo Vernier and Luigi Bertolotti and Andrea Crisanti and Maurizio Guido Paoletti and Enrico Lavezzo and Luca De Sabato},
journal = {Animals : an open access journal from MDPI},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ani16203319},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42939251},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Coronavirus Diversity in an Italian Bat Population Sampled During the Pandemic in 2020.
AU - Gabriele Vaccari
AU - Ilaria Di Bartolo
AU - Luca Dorigo
AU - Angelo Leandro Dreon
AU - Stefano Toppo
AU - Margherita Morpurgo
AU - Edoardo Vernier
AU - Luigi Bertolotti
AU - Andrea Crisanti
AU - Maurizio Guido Paoletti
AU - Enrico Lavezzo
AU - Luca De Sabato
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
DO - 10.3390/ani16203319
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42939251
AB - Evolutionary studies have established a correlation between human and bat coronaviruses (CoV), identifying bats as the natural reservoir for Coronaviridae. Over the past two decades, three major zoonotic spillover events have been described: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV), which caused significant global outbreaks, and SARS-CoV-2, which triggered the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these events, the true diversity of coronavirus species harbored by bats remains largely unmapped, even as the discovery of novel strains continues to accelerate. In this study, we analyzed 37 fecal swab samples collected in Northern Italy, targeting the bat genera Miniopterus, Myotis, and Rhinolophus. Coronaviruses were detected using a pan-coronavirus (Pan-CoV) nested RT-PCR in five bat samples: three tested positive for Alphacoronaviruses (Alpha-CoVs) and two for Betacoronaviruses (Beta-CoVs). Positive samples were subjected to Pan-CoV Illumina next-generation sequencing (NGS), and two samples yielded sufficient read depth for robust contig assembly. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the co-circulation of three distinct Alpha-CoVs within a Miniopterus schreibersii (M. schreibersii) fecal sample and the presence of a SARS-CoV-related strain in a Rhinolophus hipposideros (R. hipposideros) fecal sample. Both the Alpha-CoVs and the Beta-CoVs were most closely related to European strains. These findings confirm the widespread circulation of diverse CoVs in Italian bats and underscore the need for continued molecular epidemiological surveillance to unravel the full extent of CoV heterogeneity in European wildlife.
SN - 2076-2615
ER -