Wild birds interconnect all parts of the globe through annual cycles of migration with little respect for country or continental borders. Although wild birds are reservoir hosts for a high diversity of gamma- and deltacoronaviruses, we have little understanding of the ecology or evolution of any of these viruses. In this review we use genome sequence and ecological data to disentangle the evolution of coronaviruses in wild birds. Specifically, we explore host range at the levels of viral genus and species, and reveal the multi-host nature of many viral species, albeit with biases to certain types of avian host. We conclude that it is currently challenging to infer viral ecology due to major sampling and technical limitations, and suggest that improved assay performance across the breadth of gamma- and deltacoronaviruses, assay standardization, as well as better sequencing approaches, will improve both the repeatability and interpretation of results. Finally, we discuss cross-species virus transmission across both the wild bird—poultry interface as well as from birds to mammals. Clarifying the ecology and diversity in the wild bird reservoir has important ramifications for our ability to respond to the likely future emergence of coronaviruses in socioeconomically important animal species or human populations.

中文翻译：

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野生鸟类是多种且丰富的 γ 和 δ 冠状病毒的宿主。

野生鸟类通过每年的迁徙周期将全球各地连接起来，很少尊重国家或大陆边界。尽管野生鸟类是高度多样性的γ-和δ冠状病毒的储存宿主，但我们对这些病毒的生态或进化知之甚少。在这篇综述中，我们使用基因组序列和生态数据来阐明野生鸟类中冠状病毒的进化。具体来说，我们在病毒属和物种水平上探索宿主范围，并揭示许多病毒物种的多宿主性质，尽管对某些类型的禽类宿主存在偏见。我们的结论是，由于主要采样和技术限制，目前推断病毒生态学具有挑战性，并建议提高 γ 和 δ 冠状病毒范围内的检测性能、检测标准化以及更好的测序方法，将提高重复性和准确性。结果的解释。最后，我们讨论了野生鸟类与家禽之间以及鸟类与哺乳动物之间的跨物种病毒传播。澄清野生鸟类水库的生态和多样性对于我们应对未来可能在社会经济上重要的动物物种或人类群体中出现的冠状病毒的能力具有重要影响。