Surveillance of 16 UK native bat species through conservationist networks uncovers coronaviruses with zoonotic potential. bat faeces

We collected 48 faecal samples from all but one of the 17 bat species breeding in the UK, through an extensive network of bat rehabilitators and conservationists, and screened them for coronaviruses using deep RNA sequencing. We assembled nine novel, high-quality coronaviral genomes, comprising four alphacoronaviruses from Myotis daubentonii and Pipistrellus pipistrellus, a Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-related coronavirus from Plecotus auritus, and four closely-related sarbecoviruses isolated from both horseshoe bat species Rhinolophus hipposideros and R. ferrumequinum.