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Comprehensive Infectome Analysis Reveals Diverse Infectious Agents with Zoonotic Potential in Wildlife

Hou, X.; Wang, J.; Wang, D.-X.; Chen, Y.; Li, X.-X.; Wu, W.-C.; Le, S.-J.; Mei, S.-Q.; Liu, H.-L.; Feng, Y.; Yang, L.-F.; Shi, P.-B.; Ren, Z.-R.; Yang, L.; He, H.-J.; Song, W.-J.; Chen, J.; Zhu, M.-M.; Jiang, Z.-W.; Li, X.-M.; Li, M.-R.; Guo, D.; Holmes, E. C.; Deng, Z.-Q.; Shi, M.

2025-02-11 microbiology
10.1101/2025.01.09.632079 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Understanding wildlife-pathogen interactions is crucial for mitigating zoonotic risk. Through meta-transcriptomic sequencing we profiled the infectomes of 1,922 samples from 67 mammalian species across China, uncovering a remarkable diversity of viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic pathogens. Of the 195 pathogens identified, 62 were novel, including a bi- segmented coronavirus in diseased lesser pandas, which we propose represents a new genus - Zetacoronavirus. The orders Carnivora and Rodentia exhibited the highest pathogen diversity and were implicated in numerous host-jumping events. Comparative analysis of diseased versus healthy animals revealed a trend of higher pathogen loads in the former, with possible differences in tissue tropisms. In total, 48 zoonotic and 17 epizootic pathogens were identified, with frequent cross-species transmission, emphasizing the potential for emerging public health threats. This study highlights the urgent need for wildlife pathogen surveillance to inform proactive disease management strategies.

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