Assessing the interferome in novel, purpose-driven bat-derived cells

Assessing the interferome of novel, purpose-driven bat-derived cells SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Over the last decade, bats have emerged as intriguing mammalian reservoirs of emerging high impact viruses that cause severe disease in humans and agricultural animals. However, bats that are naturally or experimentally infected with these viruses do not develop clinical signs of disease. Thus, understanding how bats tolerate virus infections may allow us to develop novel drugs or identify new drug targets for alternate mammalian species, such as humans. In spite of recent advances in bat immunology, studies have largely relied on cell culture models from selected bat species, limiting our understanding of this diverse mammalian order. The order Chiroptera is made up of over 1420 species of bats, and data from a handful of bats do not represent evolutionary adaptations in all bats. In addition, these reagents are not available on public repositories making it hard for the research community to pursue this intriguing and growing field of research. For our proposal, we propose to develop novel bat reagents, including primary and immortalized cells from five major bat species, Rousettus aegyptiacus, Pteropus alecto, Eptesicus fuscus, Artibeus jamaicensis, and Carollia perspicillata, representing bats that currently exist in research colonies, making future in vivo translational studies feasible and logical. Data from selected bats, such as Rousettus, Pteropus and Eptesicus bats suggest that bat cells have evolved adaptations in their cytokine responses to better tolerate virus infections relative to humans. Type I interferon (IFN) responses are the first line of mammalian antiviral defense, and although type I IFNs and their downstream effects have been studied in selected bat cells, global cellular responses and the full range of IFN-mediated antiviral effects or the ‘interferome’ remain elusive. For this project, we shall use our diverse bat cell types, derived from multiple bat species, to identify and delineate evolutionarily conserved and unique bat-specific IFN responses. Results from our study will shed light on intriguing questions around the ability of bats to control infection with zoonotic RNA viruses, along with making important discoveries on evolutionary adaptations in the mammalian type I IFN pathway. Importantly, our research will generate critical bat reagents, such as primary cells, cell lines, recombinant cytokines and molecular assays that will facilitate the development of larger collaborative projects to study bat immunology.