Evidence of Transmission and Circulation of Deltacron XD Recombinant Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Northwest France.

In February 2022, samples collected in northwest France showed discordant molecular results. After virological and epidemiological investigations, 17 cases of Deltacron XD recombinant severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 were confirmed by sequencing or suspected due to epidemiological links, showing evidence of an extended transmission event and circulation of this form, with low clinical severity.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in two cats during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in France.

Although there are several reports in the literature of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cats, few SARS-CoV-2 sequences from infected cats have been published. In this study, SARS-CoV-2 infection was evaluated in two cats by clinical observation, molecular biology (qPCR and NGS), and serology (microsphere immunoassay and seroneutralization). Following the observation of symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in two cats, infection status was confirmed by RT-qPCR and, in one cat, serological analysis for antibodies against N-protein and S-protein, as well as neutralizing antibodies.

Report of One-Year Prospective Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Dogs and Cats in France with Various Exposure Risks: Confirmation of a Low Prevalence of Shedding, Detection and Complete Sequencing of an Alpha Variant in a Cat.

Despite the probable zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV-2, only limited research efforts have been made to understand the role of companion animals in SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology. According to recent serological prevalence studies, human-to-companion animal transmission is quite frequent, which led us to consider that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from animal to human, albeit negligible in the present context, may have been underestimated. In this study, we provide the results of a prospective survey that was conducted to evaluate the SARS-CoV-2 isolation rate by qRT-PCR in dogs and cats with different exposure risks and clinical statuses.

Nectar-feeding bats and birds show parallel molecular adaptations in sugar metabolism enzymes.

In most vertebrates, the demand for glucose as the primary substrate for cellular respiration is met by the breakdown of complex carbohydrates, or energy is obtained by protein and lipid catabolism. In contrast, a few bat and bird species have convergently evolved to subsist on nectar, a sugar-rich mixture of glucose, fructose, and sucrose. How these nectar-feeders have adapted to cope with life-long high sugar intake while avoiding the onset of metabolic syndrome and diabetes is not understood.

Interrogating Phylogenetic Discordance Resolves Deep Splits in the Rapid Radiation of Old World Fruit Bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae).

The family Pteropodidae (Old World fruit bats) comprises $>$200 species distributed across the Old World tropics and subtropics. Most pteropodids feed on fruit, suggesting an early origin of frugivory, although several lineages have shifted to nectar-based diets. Pteropodids are of exceptional conservation concern with $>$50% of species considered threatened, yet the systematics of this group has long been debated, with uncertainty surrounding early splits attributed to an ancient rapid diversification.

Development and characterization of 10 microsatellite markers in the Cape horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus capensis (Chiroptera, Rhinolophidae) and cross-amplification in southern African Rhinolophus species.

Background: The Cape horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus capensis, is endemic to the Cape region of South Africa. Coalescent analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data suggests extensive historical gene flow between populations despite strong geographic variation of their echolocation call phenotype. Nevertheless the fine-scale genetic structure and evolutionary ecology of R.

Molecular systematics and phylogeography of the tribe Myonycterini (Mammalia, Pteropodidae) inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear markers.

The tribe Myonycterini comprises five fruit bat species of the family Pteropodidae, which are endemic to tropical Africa. Previous studies have produced conflicting results about their interspecific relationships. Here, we performed a comparative phylogeographic analysis based on 148 complete cytochrome b gene sequences from the three species distributed in West Africa and Central Africa (Myonycteris torquata, Lissonycteris angolensis and Megaloglossus woermanni).

DNA barcoding of African fruit bats (Mammalia, Pteropodidae). The mitochondrial genome does not provide a reliable discrimination between Epomophorus gambianus and Micropteropus pusillus.

Sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene have been shown to be useful for species identification in various groups of animals. However, the DNA barcoding approach has never been tested on African fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae (Mammalia, Chiroptera). In this study, the COI gene was sequenced from 120 bats collected in the Central African Republic and belonging to either Epomophorus gambianus or Micropteropus pusillus, two species easily diagnosed on the basis of morphological characters, such as body size, skull shape and palatal ridges.