Different but Not Unique: Deciphering the Immunity of the Jamaican Fruit Bat by Studying Its Viriome

Abstract

A specialized and fine-tuned immune response of bats upon infection with viruses is believed to provide the basis for a “friendly” coexistence with these pathogens, which are often lethal for humans and other mammals. First insights into the immunity of bats suggest that bats have evolved to possess their own strategies to cope with viral infections. Yet, the molecular details for this innocuous coexistence remain poorly described and bat infection models are the key to unveiling these secrets. In Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis), a New World bat species, infection experiments with its (putative) natural viral pathogens Tacaribe virus (TCRV), rabies virus (RABV), and the bat influenza A virus (IAV) H18N11, have contributed to an accurate, though still incomplete, representation of the bat-imposed immunity. Surprisingly, though many aspects of their innate and adaptive immune responses differ from that of the human immune response, such as a contraction of the IFN locus and reduction in the number of immunoglobulin subclasses, variations could also be observed between Jamaican fruit bats and other bat species.

Long-Read Sequencing Reveals Rapid Evolution of Immunity- and Cancer-Related Genes in Bats

“…Both species belong to Noctilionoidea, a Neotropical superfamily that comprises ∼16% of global bat diversity ( www.batnames.org ). Artibeus jamaicensis is one of the most common Neotropical mammals and a model species in mammalian research ( Larsen et al 2007 ) including work on bat immunology ( Cabrera-Romo et al 2014 ; Munster et al 2016 ; David et al 2022 ). It is a member of the family Phyllostomidae, arguably the most ecologically diverse lineage of living mammals ( Fleming et al 2020 ).…”

Antiviral effects of interferon-stimulated genes in bats

“…In humans, the activation of inflammasomes leads to strong pathological responses that cause severe tissue damage (Karki et al, 2017). Activation of interleukin 1b (IL-1b) processing via caspase is suppressed in bats (Shaw et al, 2017;Goh et al, 2020) and unlike the intense and chronic inflammatory response of other mammals, bats can partially suppress the immune response against viruses (David et al, 2022). Other cytokines such as IL-10 and transforming growth factor b (TGFb), with a potential anti-inflammatory function, appear to be upregulated in bats during in vivo infection with viruses (Burke et al, 2023).…”