Goes, L. G. B. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2025

Origins and evolutionary trajectories of morbilliviruses in Neotropical bats

Bats are important reservoirs of paramyxoviruses, yet their role in the evolutionary origins of morbilliviruses like measles and rinderpest viruses remains unclear. Investigating wild bats (38/1,629 RT-PCR positive) and non-human primates (NHP, 13/1,370 RT-PCR-positive) from Latin America coupled with data mining, we identified six divergent morbilliviruses. High morbillivirus concentrations in bat organs and morbillivirus RNA staining in NHP livers suggested systemic infection. Of 117 vampire bats, 35.9% had neutralizing antibodies against a primary vampire bat morbillivirus isolate, suggesting frequent survived infections. Usage of bat, but not human, CD150 for cell entry and partial cross-neutralization of bat-associated morbillivirus by heterologous sera suggested conserved entry and antigenicity. Macro-evolutionary reconstructions revealed a predominant role of Neotropical bats during morbilliviral diversification, including bat-associated host shifts into Mexican pigs and Brazilian NHPs. These data argue for increased surveillance, experimental risk assessments, vaccine development, and intervention strategies to cease future outbreaks of previously reservoir-bound morbilliviruses.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2021

SARS-CoV-2 Infection Impacts Carbon Metabolism and Depends on Glutamine for Replication in Syrian Hamster Astrocytes

Coronaviruses belong to a well-known family of enveloped RNA viruses and are the causative agent of the common cold. Although the seasonal coronaviruses do not pose a threat to human life, three members of this family, i.e., SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and recently, SARS-CoV2, may cause severe acute respiratory syndrome and lead to death. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has already caused more than 4.4 million deaths worldwide. Although much is better understood about the immunopathogenesis of the lung disease, important information about systemic disease is still missing, mainly concerning neurological parameters. In this context, we sought to evaluate immunometabolic changes using in vitro and in vivo models of hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2. Here we show that, besides infecting hamsters astrocytes, SARS-CoV-2 induces changes in protein expression and metabolic pathways involved in carbon metabolism, glycolysis, mitochondrial respiration, and synaptic transmission. Interestingly, many of the differentially expressed proteins are concurrent with proteins that correlate with neurological diseases, such as Parkinsonss disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Huntingtons disease. Metabolic analysis by high resolution real-time respirometry evidenced hyperactivation of glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration. Further metabolomics analysis confirmed the consumption of many metabolites, including glucose, pyruvate, glutamine, and alpha ketoglutarate. Interestingly, we observed that glutamine was significantly reduced in infected cultures, and the blockade of mitochondrial glutaminolysis significantly reduced viral replication and pro-inflammatory response. SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed in vivo as hippocampus, cortex, and olfactory bulb of intranasally infected hamsters were positive for viral genome several days post-infection. Altogether, our data reveals important changes in overall protein expression, mostly of those related to carbon metabolism and energy generation, causing an imbalance in important metabolic molecules and neurotransmitters. This may suggest that some of the neurological features observed during COVID-19, as memory and cognitive impairment, may rely on altered energetic profile of brain cells, as well as an unbalanced glutamine/glutamate levels, whose importance for adequate brain function is unquestionable.

immunology↗