Catalogue of bat viruses (2020)

Abstract

Aim. Aim of this the research presented in this article is to analyze the representation of bat (Chiroptera) viruses in various taxa of the Virae kingdom.Discussion. Currently, 260 viruses are associated with bats belonging to 19 orders, 28 families (9 DNA‐containing and 19 RNA‐containing) and 61 genera (18 DNA‐containing and 43 RNA‐containing). This number includes viruses annotated by the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (excluding synonymous species) for which the taxonomic status has been verified by sequencing subgenomic or full‐genomic nucleotide sequences. A large number of unidentified strains from bats are noteworthy – they apparently contain many future prototype viruses for new taxa.Conclusion. The data presented in this article will undoubtedly be expanded in the nearest future. This is due to the need to improve the system for prevention of dangerous epidemic and pandemic situations primarily by increasing priority attention on bat viruses. Therefore, the catalogue of bat viruses, known as of mid‐2020, presented in this paper could be considered as a kind of "starting point" for future research in this area.

Keywords

• bats
• chiroptera
• viruses
• virae
• taxonomy