Global patterns in coronavirus diversity
Simon J. Anthony, Christine K. Johnson, Denise J. Greig, Sarah Kramer, Xiaoyu Che, Heather Wells, Allison L. Hicks, Damien O. Joly, Nathan D. Wolfe, Peter Daszak, William Karesh, W.I. Lipkin, Stephen S. Morse, PREDICT Consortium, Jonna A.K. Mazet, Tracey Goldstein
Coronavirus diversity and bat diversity are directly correlated. In other words, the number of viruses were higher in areas where there were more bat species.
Key Findings
- Bats are “the major evolutionary reservoirs and ecological drivers of coronavirus diversity”
- The greatest diversity of undiscovered SARS and SARS-related coronaviruses are predicted to be found in Roundleaf bats and Horseshoe bats from South East Asia
Informing Action
Leveraging information from this study, our PREDICT lab team is currently engaged in the global COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) response and is testing samples collected from bats during PREDICT surveillance to determine the potential host reservoir species of SARS-CoV-2.