Discovery of new coronavirus

In Newsweek, Pablo TORTOSA (Professor, University of Reunion Island) is interviewed about the discovery of two new lineages of coronaviruses in bats in New Zealand.

This study is the result of collaboration between UMR PIMIT, the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago, and the Biodiversity Group of the Department of Conservation in New Zealand. Massive coronavirus (CoV) infection has been identified in the species Chalinolobus tuberculatus, and molecular data suggest that this bat species colonized New Zealand from Australia while carrying its CoV infection. These data pave the way for future investigations into bats entering torpor during winter, which are physiologically very different from the tropical species typically handled by researchers at UMR PIMIT.

The article published in the New Zealand Journal of Ecology is available here.

Photo credit : Colin O'Donnell