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Search indexed bioRxiv preprints in genomics, neuroscience, cell biology and bioinformatics. Read source abstracts and check manuscript versions; preprints are not peer reviewed.

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bioRxiv2026

Widespread SARS-CoV-2 infection in free-ranging Neotropical bats suggests repeated human-to-bat spillback

Bats harbor exceptional coronavirus diversity and are considered ancestral sources of several human pathogens. As SARS-CoV-2 transitioned from pandemic emergence to global endemicity in humans, concern has shifted from wildlife-to-human spillover toward reverse zoonosis. However, infection of free-ranging bat populations under natural conditions has not previously been demonstrated. Here, we report widespread detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wild Neotropical bats sampled across Andean and Amazonian ecosystems of Southern Ecuador. RT-qPCR screening of 126 individuals, representing nine taxa, detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in 34.12% of bats across multiple sites. Partial to near-complete viral genomes recovered from five individuals showed >99% nucleotide identity to contemporary human SARS-CoV-2 lineages and clustered within multiple global phylogenetic clades. Mixed-effects modeling revealed pronounced species-level heterogeneity, a positive association between elevation and infection probability, and higher infection probability in females compared with males. The close phylogenetic affinity of bat-derived genomes to circulating human variants and their distribution across multiple lineages suggest repeated anthropogenic spillback rather than sustained bat-specific circulation. These results expand current understanding of the ecological footprint of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the importance of integrating wildlife surveillance into long-term One Health strategies for emerging infectious diseases.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2026

Linking continuous behavior to aesthetic enjoyment in a walkable virtual-reality museum tour: effects of agency and a painting-level analysis framework

Museum visits typically follow curator-defined routes that constrain how visitors shape their own experience, yet choice is widely held to heighten engagement, autonomy, and enjoyment. Virtual reality (VR) offers a setting in which to study these processes because it combines ecological immersion with precise, continuous behavioral measurement. We investigated (i) whether VR- derived behavioral signals are associated with self-reported enjoyment during a virtual museum tour, and (ii) whether the level of agency afforded to visitors influences enjoyment. Forty-eight adults completed a room-scale, life-size VR tour (8 * 4 m) of seven paintings from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, each accompanied by a synchronized audio guide. Synchronized gaze and head- position streams were logged continuously (50 Hz) and segmented into painting-level viewing episodes using a trial-and-tile pipeline that intersects each painting's trial interval with an empirically defined spatial window in front of the canvas. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three agency conditions, Active (choice before every artwork), Semi-Active (choice for the first three), or Passive (fixed route),while the artwork sequence was held identical. Self- reported enjoyment at the tour and painting levels did not differ reliably across agency conditions. Among VR-derived measures, gaze engagement during the audio guide showed the clearest (though modest) association with painting-level liking, whereas locomotion and pacing measures were weak and inconsistent predictors. Agency nonetheless reliably modulated several gaze- and time-based viewing measures. The findings reveal a dissociation between subjective enjoyment and the micro-structure of viewing, and establish a reusable framework for full-tour, painting-level behavioral analysis in immersive settings.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Phylogeny and Species Delimitation in Isoxylosteum, a Lonicera Clade Endemic to the Himalayan-Tibetan-Hengduan Region

The Himalayan-Tibetan-Hengduan (HTH) region is the richest biodiversity hotspot for high-elevation plants. However, owing to its remote and physically challenging topography as well as the trans-national nature of the region, many taxonomic problems in the area remain unresolved, particularly in the Himalaya. This, in turn, has impeded our understanding of the assembly of its extraordinary high-elevation flora. Here, we resolve phylogenetic relationships and delimit species in a distinctive clade of honeysuckles that is endemic to the HTH, the Isoxylosteum clade of Lonicera, using restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) and morphological data. Five species complexes of Isoxylosteum have standardly been recognized. Three of these complexes are highly variable and have been divided into several varieties or species each. Phylogenetic, population structure, and morphological analyses of leaf and floral traits from samples collected across the range of the clade support the recognition of five species, including a species that has most often been recognized as a variety of L. rupicola (L. rupicola var. minuta). Instead, we find that it is sister to L. spinosa. This is surprising because the geographic range of L. minuta is contiguous with the other varieties of L. rupicola in the northern Hengduan region but widely separated from L. spinosa whose range lies mainly to the west of the Tibetan plateau. On close examination we find that several morphological and ecological traits also support a closer relation of L. minuta to L. spinosa. None of the other eight previously recognized varieties and species were supported. Floral traits showed high discriminatory power, correctly classifying 89% of samples to species. By comparison, leaf dimensions classified species with 59% accuracy. Our results identify diagnostic morphological apomorphies for each recognized species and major clade and provide a revised taxonomic framework for Isoxylosteum.

evolutionary biology↗