Barcoding and Detection of Zoonotic Viruses in Bat Species of Pakistan

Abstract

Bats accounts for nearly 20% of all mammalian species and is not the widely studied group of mammals in Pakistan. Bats harbor many emerging zoonotic viruses that are a significant cause of infectious diseases in humans and livestock including Hendra, Nipah, Ebola, Marburg and Coronaviruses. Aerosolization of bats secretions like saliva, urine or feces causes the transmission of bat-borne viruses to other host animals. Although being the potential hosts of many zoonotic viruses, bats are not being widely studied for disease transmission due to lack of accessible bat colonies in field and expertise for investigating the bat-virus relationship. Range and location of bat species which are known to be vulnerable to infection, extend of infection and virus titer in different bat species are the principal factors which needs to be determined for investigating potential species for viruses. In this study we screened bats species of Pakistan for the detection of Nipah virus. This gives us an understanding about the relationship of bats and viruses, virus persistence in natural environment and the risk factors associated with disease transmission to humans and animals in Pakistan. Bats evolutionary and biodiversity studies are also widely done to determine their phylogenetic characteristics. Diversity of bat species of Pakistan was reviewed and compared in this study. We developed DNA barcode assay based on mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. DNA barcode from taxonomically unknown specie is compared with reference collection of barcodes to determine cryptic specie level identification. Primers target a specific region of COI gene that is highly differentiating among this order. Distinct genome sequences of mitochondrial COI gene from various bats of Pakistan give species identification and phylogenetic analyses. Measures should be taken to preserve biodiversity of bats in Pakistan.