Abstract
Morbilliviruses are amongst the most contagious viral pathogens that infect mammals. Metagenomic surveys have identified numerous morbillivirus sequences in bats, but no full-length authentic morbillivirus has been isolated or characterized from bats. Here we detail the discovery of full-length Myotis Bat Morbillivirus (MBaMV) from a bat surveillance program in Brazil. After determining that MBaMV utilizes bat CD150 but not human CD150 as an entry receptor, we generated an infectious clone of MBaMV using reverse genetics. MBaMV exhibited features consistent with other morbilliviruses, including pleomorphic virions, P-editing and the rule-of-six. MBaMV replicated well in human epithelial cell lines in a nectin-4 dependent manner. Surprisingly, MBaMV was able to infect human macrophages in a CD150-independent manner. However, MBaMV was restricted by cross-neutralizing human sera and did not evade the human innate immune system, indicating that while zoonotic spillover into humans may be possible, MBaMV replication in humans would likely be restricted.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Competing interests: All authors declare no competing interests.
We have added experiments that help us better assess the zoonotic potential of MBaMV, which has led us to temper our claims. Presence of cross-neutralization antibodies elicited by sera from MMR vaccinees and the inability of MBaMV P/V genes to antagonize human type I IFN induction, decreases the zoonotic potential of MBaMV. We now temper our claims regarding the zoonotic transmission of MBaMV throughout. Figure 5 contains the data from the cross-neutralization experiments that were not part of the original manuscript. Extended figure 9 contains the new experiments demonstrating how MBaMV P and V do not antagonize human interferon. Sections of the introduction and discussion have been rewritten in light of our new findings.