Bats serve as natural hosts of
Pteropine orthoreovirus
(PRV), an emerging group of bat-borne, zoonotic viruses. Bats appear to possess unique innate immune system responses that can inhibit viral replication, thus reducing clinical symptoms. We examined the innate immune response against PRV and assessed viral replication in cell lines derived from four bat species (
Miniopterus fuliginosus
,
Pteropus dasymallus
,
Rhinolophus ferrumequinum
, and
Rousettus leschenaultii
), one rodent (
Mesocricetous auratus
), and human (
Homo sapiens
). The expression levels of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) (
TLR3
,
RIG-I
, and
MDA5
) and interferons (
IFNB1
and
IFNL1
) were higher and PRV replication was lower in cell lines derived from
M. fuliginosus
,
R. ferrumequinum
, and
R. leschenaultii
. Reduction of
IFNB1
expression by the knockdown of PRRs in the cell line derived from
R. ferrumequinum
was associated with increased PRV replication. The knockdown of
RIG-I
led to the most significant reduction in viral replication for all cell lines. These results suggest that
RIG-I
production is important for antiviral response against PRV in
R. ferrumequinum
.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11262-021-01865-6.