Bat SARS-like coronavirus WIV1 (Bat SL-CoV-WIV1), also sometimes called SARS-like coronavirus WIV1, is a strain of severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus (SARSr-CoV) isolated from Chinese rufous horseshoe bats in 2013 (Rhinolophus sinicus). Like all coronaviruses, virions consist of single-stranded positive-sense RNA enclosed within an envelope.
WIV1 was named for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where it was discovered by a researcher on Shi Zhengli's team.
In 2018, Ralph S. Baric and Vincent Munster of Rocky Mountain Laboratories infected Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) with WIV1. SARS-CoV-2 transmits efficiently in Egyptian fruit bats.
Zoonosis
The discovery confirms that bats are the natural reservoir of SARS-CoV. Phylogenetic analysis shows the possibility of direct transmission of SARS from bats to humans without the intermediary Chinese civets, as previously believed.
Phylogenetic
See also Bat as food Bat coronavirus RaTG13 Bat virome SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)
References