ORF8-Related Genetic Evidence for Chinese Horseshoe Bats as the Source of Human Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.

Wu, Zhiqiang; Yang, Li; Ren, Xianwen; Zhang, Junpeng; Yang, Fan; Zhang, Shuyi; Jin, Qi · J Infect Dis · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Several lineage B betacoronaviruses termed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like CoVs (SL-CoVs) were identified from Rhinolophus bats in China. These viruses are characterized by a set of unique accessory open reading frames (ORFs) that are located between the M and N genes. Among unique accessory ORFs, ORF8 is most hypervariable. In this study, the ORF8s of all SL-CoVs were classified into 3 types, and, for the first time, it was found that very few SL-CoVs from Rhinolophus sinicus have ORF8s that are identical to that of human SARS-CoV. This finding provides new genetic evidence for Chinese horseshoe bats as the source of human SARS-CoV.

Medical subject headings