UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Tissue Distribution of the MERS-Coronavirus Receptor in Bats

Widagdo, W; Begeman, L; Schipper, D; van Run, PR; Cunningham, AA; Kley, N; Reusken, CB; ... van den Brand, JMA; + view all (2017) Tissue Distribution of the MERS-Coronavirus Receptor in Bats. Scientific Reports , 7 , Article 1193. 10.1038/s41598-017-01290-6. Green open access

[thumbnail of Cunningham_Widagdo_et_al-2017-Scientific_Reports.pdf]
Preview
Text
Cunningham_Widagdo_et_al-2017-Scientific_Reports.pdf - Published Version

Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has been shown to infect both humans and dromedary camels using dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) as its receptor. The distribution of DPP4 in the respiratory tract tissues of humans and camels reflects MERS-CoV tropism. Apart from dromedary camels, insectivorous bats are suggested as another natural reservoir for MERS-like-CoVs. In order to gain insight on the tropism of these viruses in bats, we studied the DPP4 distribution in the respiratory and extra-respiratory tissues of two frugivorous bat species (Epomophorus gambianus and Rousettus aegyptiacus) and two insectivorous bat species (Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Eptesicus serotinus). In the frugivorous bats, DPP4 was present in epithelial cells of both the respiratory and the intestinal tract, similar to what has been reported for camels and humans. In the insectivorous bats, however, DPP4 expression in epithelial cells of the respiratory tract was almost absent. The preferential expression of DPP4 in the intestinal tract of insectivorous bats, suggests that transmission of MERS-like-CoVs mainly occurs via the fecal-oral route. Our results highlight differences in the distribution of DPP4 expression among MERS-CoV susceptible species, which might influence variability in virus tropism, pathogenesis and transmission route.

Type: Article
Title: Tissue Distribution of the MERS-Coronavirus Receptor in Bats
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01290-6
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01290-6
Language: English
Additional information: Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords: Animal physiology, Viral transmission
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1547191
Downloads since deposit
67Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item