A century-old museum sample reveals a bandavirus with modern day presence in northern European bats

Ancient genome sequences provide invaluable insights into the origin and evolution of viral pathogens, offering a broader temporal perspective that extends well beyond the limited timespan of clinical data, which typically covers at most a few decades. Whereas ancient viral DNA is relatively frequently recovered, ancient viral RNA genomes are scarce due to the fragile nature of RNA molecules. In this study, we explored the feasibility of detecting ancient viral RNA in ethanol-preserved bat samples from a museum collection. We not only detected viral genome fragments but also recovered the coding-complete genome of a bandavirus (species Bandavirus zwieselense , family Phenuiviridae , order Hareavirales , class Bunyaviricetes ) from a Common pipistrelle ( Pipistrellus pipistrellus) bat collected in northern Germany in 1919.

To investigate the modern distribution of Bandavirus zwieselense , we screened bat organs collected in Germany and the Netherlands via RT-qPCR, identifying modern counterparts in nine Common Pipistrelle (P. pipistrellus) bats (collected between 2010 and 2018), and one Serotine bat ( Eptesicus serotinus , collected in 1999). The resulting genomic data enabled us to map phylogenetic relationships within this previously uncharacterized virus species ( Bandavirus zwieselense ) and estimate the timeframe for the most recent common ancestor. Additionally, we performed functional analysis of the S segment encoded nonstructural (NSs) protein of Bandavirus zwieselense in human HEK-293T cells, demonstrating its ability to block interferon induction, a characteristic also observed in the related human-pathogenic Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus ( SFTS V, species Bandavirus dabieense) .

This study demonstrates the feasibility of recovering and characterizing viral genomes from ethanol-preserved ancient RNA material, underscoring the significant potential of museum collections to contribute to the understanding of RNA virus evolution.