Lack of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in British wildlife 2020-21 and first description of a stoat (Mustela erminea) Minacovirus.

Ternenge Apaa; Amy J Withers; Laura Mackenzie; Ceri Staley; Nicola Dessi; Adam Blanchard; Malcolm Bennett; Samantha Bremner-Harrison; Elizabeth A Chadwick; Frank Hailer; Stephen W R Harrison; Xavier Lambin; Matthew Loose; Fiona Mathews; Rachael Tarlinton

doi:10.1099/jgv.0.001917

Lack of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in British wildlife 2020-21 and first description of a stoat (Mustela erminea) Minacovirus.

Ternenge Apaa, Amy J Withers, Laura Mackenzie, Ceri Staley, Nicola Dessi, Adam Blanchard, Malcolm Bennett, Samantha Bremner-Harrison, Elizabeth A Chadwick, Frank Hailer, Stephen W R Harrison, Xavier Lambin, Matthew Loose, Fiona Mathews, Rachael Tarlinton^* (Corresponding Author)

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Repeat spillover of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) into new hosts has highlighted the critical role of cross-species transmission of coronaviruses and establishment of new reservoirs of virus in pandemic and epizootic spread of coronaviruses. Species particularly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 spillover include Mustelidae (mink, ferrets and related animals), cricetid rodents (hamsters and related animals), felids (domestic cats and related animals) and white-tailed deer. These predispositions led us to screen British wildlife with sarbecovirus-specific quantitative PCR and pan coronavirus PCR assays for SARS-CoV-2 using samples collected during the human pandemic to establish if widespread spillover was occurring. Fourteen wildlife species ( n=402) were tested, including: two red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes), 101 badgers ( Meles meles), two wild American mink ( Neogale vison), 41 pine marten ( Martes martes), two weasels ( Mustela nivalis), seven stoats ( Mustela erminea), 108 water voles ( Arvicola amphibius), 39 bank voles ( Myodes glareolous), 10 field voles ( Microtus agrestis), 15 wood mice ( Apodemus sylvaticus), one common shrew ( Sorex aranaeus), two pygmy shrews ( Sorex minutus), two hedgehogs ( Erinaceus europaeus) and 75 Eurasian otters ( Lutra lutra). No cases of SARS-CoV-2 were detected in any animals, but a novel minacovirus related to mink and ferret alphacoronaviruses was detected in stoats recently introduced to the Orkney Islands. This group of viruses is of interest due to pathogenicity in ferrets. The impact of this virus on the health of stoat populations remains to be established.

Original language	English
Article number	001917
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of General Virology
Volume	104
Issue number	12
Early online date	7 Dec 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001917
Publication status	Published - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

This study was supported by the:
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Award BB/W009501/1)
Principle Award Recipient: RachaelE Tarlinton

Data Availability Statement

The Minacovirus sequence assembled from this study has been deposited in the NCBI GenBank database under accession number OP933726. In addition, Illumina read datasets generated have been submitted under Bioproject accession number
PRJNA897822, SRA accession numbers SAMN3158039, SAMN31580331 and AMN31580344, and Biosample accession number SRS1567284850.

Supplementary information for this paper is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24231709

Keywords

Coronavirus
mustelid
cricetid rodent
minacovirus
stoat
SARS-CoV-2

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1099/jgv.0.001917Licence: CC BY

Apaa_etal_JGV_Lack_of_Detection_VOR
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Final published version, 369 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Apaa, T., Withers, A. J., Mackenzie, L., Staley, C., Dessi, N., Blanchard, A., Bennett, M., Bremner-Harrison, S., Chadwick, E. A., Hailer, F., Harrison, S. W. R., Lambin, X., Loose, M., Mathews, F., & Tarlinton, R. (2023). Lack of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in British wildlife 2020-21 and first description of a stoat (Mustela erminea) Minacovirus. Journal of General Virology, 104(12), Article 001917. https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001917

Apaa, T, Withers, AJ, Mackenzie, L, Staley, C, Dessi, N, Blanchard, A, Bennett, M, Bremner-Harrison, S, Chadwick, EA, Hailer, F, Harrison, SWR, Lambin, X, Loose, M, Mathews, F & Tarlinton, R 2023, 'Lack of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in British wildlife 2020-21 and first description of a stoat (Mustela erminea) Minacovirus.', Journal of General Virology, vol. 104, no. 12, 001917. https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001917

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title = "Lack of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in British wildlife 2020-21 and first description of a stoat (Mustela erminea) Minacovirus.",

abstract = "Repeat spillover of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) into new hosts has highlighted the critical role of cross-species transmission of coronaviruses and establishment of new reservoirs of virus in pandemic and epizootic spread of coronaviruses. Species particularly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 spillover include Mustelidae (mink, ferrets and related animals), cricetid rodents (hamsters and related animals), felids (domestic cats and related animals) and white-tailed deer. These predispositions led us to screen British wildlife with sarbecovirus-specific quantitative PCR and pan coronavirus PCR assays for SARS-CoV-2 using samples collected during the human pandemic to establish if widespread spillover was occurring. Fourteen wildlife species ( n=402) were tested, including: two red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes), 101 badgers ( Meles meles), two wild American mink ( Neogale vison), 41 pine marten ( Martes martes), two weasels ( Mustela nivalis), seven stoats ( Mustela erminea), 108 water voles ( Arvicola amphibius), 39 bank voles ( Myodes glareolous), 10 field voles ( Microtus agrestis), 15 wood mice ( Apodemus sylvaticus), one common shrew ( Sorex aranaeus), two pygmy shrews ( Sorex minutus), two hedgehogs ( Erinaceus europaeus) and 75 Eurasian otters ( Lutra lutra). No cases of SARS-CoV-2 were detected in any animals, but a novel minacovirus related to mink and ferret alphacoronaviruses was detected in stoats recently introduced to the Orkney Islands. This group of viruses is of interest due to pathogenicity in ferrets. The impact of this virus on the health of stoat populations remains to be established. ",

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Lack of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in British wildlife 2020-21 and first description of a stoat (Mustela erminea) Minacovirus.

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this