LONG TERM CIRCULATION OF SARS-COV-2 RELATED LINEAGES IN BATS IN CAMBODIA

INTRO: Recent evidence shows the Greater Mekong Subregion to be a hotspot for Sarbecoviruses in bats, especially insectivorous Horseshoe bats (genus Rhinolophus). However, prevalence, maintenance, and evolution of these viruses in Rhinolophids is still poorly understood. Sampling efforts are still limited and generally only cover cross-sectional surveillance at single points in time. Following the detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-related viruses in Rhinolophus shameli from 2010 in Steung Treng, Cambodia, further active longitudinal surveillance in the same area between 2020-2021 continued the detection of these viruses. METHODS: Live bat capture and sampling has been implemented in several sites located in Stung Treng province. All rectal swabs of bats were tested for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 or Sarbecoviruses by real time RT-PCR. RNA samples from positive RT-PCR bats were then sequenced using a highly multiplexed PCR amplicon approach using new designed primers set guided by the ARTIC Network multiplex PCR primers set (https://artic.network/ncov-2019), on Oxford Nanopore technology. FINDINGS: The sarbecoviruses were detected in four Rhinolophus shameli bats, a percentage of similarity ranging at the nucleotide level between 98.8% - 99.1% when compared to two other Cambodian bat sarbecoviruses from 2010 and between 92.4% - 94.5% when compared to human SARS-CoV-2 across the whole genome. DISCUSSION: The bat SARS-CoV-2 related virus recently detected in four positive bats in 2020-2021 are genetically homologous with the virus detected in 2010, indicating a geographically/host limited population that is stable over time in the past ten years. CONCLUSION: Overall, our findings indicate further complexity in the diversity and evolution of sarbecoviruses and add intricacy to the search for the origins of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.