Coronaviruses () of bats in the northern Caucasus and south of western Siberia.

Introduction: Bats are natural reservoirs of coronaviruses (), which have caused three outbreaks of human disease SARS, MERS and COVID-19 or SARS-2 over the past decade. The purpose of the work is to study the diversity of coronaviruses among bats inhabiting the foothills and mountainous areas of the Republics of Dagestan, Altai and the Kemerovo region.

Materials And Methods: Samples of bat oral swabs and feces were tested for the presence of coronavirus RNA by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Results: It has been shown that the greater horseshoe bats (), inhabiting the Republic of Dagestan, are carriers of two different coronaviruses. One of the two coronaviruses is a member of the subgenus of the genus, which includes the causative agents of SARS and COVID-19. The second coronavirus is assigned to the subgenus of the genus and is most similar to viruses identified among spp. from European and Middle Eastern countries. In the Altai Republic and Kemerovo region, coronaviruses belonging to the genus , subgenus , were found in the smooth-nosed bats: Ikonnikov`s bat () and the eastern bat (). The virus from the Altai Republic from is close to viruses from Japan and Korea, as well as viruses from spp. from European countries. The virus from the Kemerovo region from groups with coronaviruses from spp. from Asian countries and is significantly different from coronaviruses previously discovered in the same natural host.