Antiviral effects of interferon-stimulated genes in bats

Abstract

The interferon pathway is the first line of defense in viral infection in all mammals, and its induction stimulates broad expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). In mice and also humans, the antiviral function of ISGs has been extensively studied. As an important viral reservoir in nature, bats can coexist with a variety of pathogenic viruses without overt signs of disease, yet only limited data are available for the role of ISGs in bats. There are multiple species of bats and work has begun deciphering the differences and similarities between ISG function of human/mouse and different bat species. This review summarizes the current knowledge of conserved and bat-specific-ISGs and their known antiviral effector functions.

Evolution of guanylate binding protein genes shows a remarkable variability within bats (Chiroptera)

“…Screening the virome for over 4000 healthy bats from 40 different species of both Yangochiroptera and Yinpterochiroptera suborders, revealed an array of viruses belonging to diverse families, the most prevalent being Herpesviridae, Papillomaviridae, Retroviridae, Adenoviridae and Astroviridae, but also Coronaviridae, Caliciviridae, Polyomaviridae, Rhabdoviridae, among others ( 33 ), confirming bats as reservoirs of various virus. The unique ability of bats to act as reservoirs is thought to be mediated by a dampening of pro-inflammatory responses ( 30 , 32 , 34 ) as well as an increased resistance to infection mediated by special features of the antiviral type I interferon (IFN) system [reviewed in ( 35 )]. GBP s are IFN-induced GTPases that have been shown to have vital roles in host immunity to infection and inflammation.…”

Alternative splicing expands the antiviral IFITM repertoire in Chinese horseshoe bats

“…Host and viruses need to constantly evolve to gain a survival advantage over each other, viruses therefore impose strong selection pressures on the host immune system (Brockhurst et al, 2014). In fact, several non-human ISGs have been shown to have differential functional capacity compared to their human counterparts (Zhang & Irving, 2023). ISGs also have a higher rate of gene duplication compared to other genes which may enhance their potency and diversity (Shaw et al, 2017).…”