{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T19:59:07Z","timestamp":1789588747828,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,30]],"date-time":"2025-12-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767052800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2024YFC2607501"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024YFC2607501"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["92369204"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["92369204"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 have posed tremendous threats to human health, highlighting the necessity of monitoring cross-species transmission of animal coronaviruses to humans. Hedgehogs infected with coronaviruses have been reported in several countries across Europe and Asia, raising concerns about the potential transmission of coronaviruses from hedgehogs to humans. In this study, we investigated coronavirus infections in hedgehogs inhabiting greenspaces in metropolitan Beijing and identified a Merbecovirus subgenus coronavirus with a prevalence rate of 30% (95% CI: 25\u201335%) among 317 hedgehogs. Phylogenetic analysis of 23 complete viral genome sequences revealed a monophyletic origin, showing close relatedness to Erinaceus hedgehog coronavirus HKU31 (Ea-HedCoV HKU31) with genome-wide nucleotide identities of 93.24\u201396.42%, and evidence of recombination with Tylonycteris bat coronavirus HKU4. These findings suggest that the increase in wildlife populations associated with urban greenspace development may pose a potential threat to human health that should not be overlooked.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14010083","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,31]],"date-time":"2025-12-31T17:24:58Z","timestamp":1767201898000},"page":"83","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Phylogenetic Characteristics and High Prevalence of a Merbecovirus in Hedgehogs from Greenspace of a Metropolis, China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-1190-6736","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Biao","family":"Deng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing 100071, China"},{"name":"The Hospital of Yunnan Provincial Corps of the Chinese People\u2019s Armed Police Forces, Yunnan 650100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-1954-2625","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nuo","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing 100071, China"},{"name":"Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 102629, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1672-6573","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cheng","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing 100071, China"},{"name":"School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-7838-1368","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiao-Yang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-6754-2644","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiao-Ling","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6871-6975","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yi","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jia-Fu","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1656-3401","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luo-Yuan","family":"Xia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wu-Chun","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing 100071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"001843","DOI":"10.1099\/jgv.0.001843","article-title":"ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Coronaviridae 2023","volume":"104","author":"Woo","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. 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