New research from the University of St Andrews has shown that bats can tolerate coronaviruses and other viruses without becoming ill, thanks to special adaptations of their immune system.
The study, published in Nature, shows that bats have more genetic adaptations in immune genes than other mammals. The ISG15 gene in particular plays a key role: in some bats, it can reduce the production of SARS-CoV-2 by up to 90 percent.
The results could help to develop new medical approaches to combat viral diseases.
The study is part of the "Bat1K" project – an international research consortium made up of researchers from over 60 countries that has created new high-quality genomes of bats to analyse these adaptations.
Bats have unique characteristics. As the only mammals that can actively fly, they play an important role in the ecosystem: they pollinate plants, spread seeds and contribute to the balance of the insect population through their feeding habits. Their exceptional orientation using ultrasonic echolocation shows how perfectly they are adapted to their nocturnal lifestyle.
Bats are of great interest to medical advancement, as their immune systems and unique viral tolerances can provide valuable insights for the development of new therapies. They are also known to carry numerous viruses, including those that are transmissible to humans – such as coronaviruses. However, bats do not show any symptoms of disease when infected with such viruses.
The new research team has sequenced high-quality genomes of 10 new bat species, as part of the international Bat1K project, including species known to carry coronaviruses and other viruses. Such adaptations can be detected as traces of positive selection and can indicate functional changes.
The result of the extensive analysis shows that bats exhibit such adaptations in immune genes much more frequently than other mammals.
The research also showed that the common ancestor of all bats had an unexpectedly high number of immune genes with selection signatures. This suggests that the evolution of the immune system could be closely linked to the evolution of the ability to fly.
Co-author Professor Sonja Vernes, from the University of St Andrews School of Biology, is co-director and founder of the Bat1K project. She said: "It's very exciting to see such impactful multidisciplinary science coming out of the partnerships formed through Bat1K. This work perfectly illustrates the potential of studying bats and their genomes to inform both fundamental evolutionary biology and translational medical research.
"These findings shed light on how bats evolved to combat viral infections could give us new ways to prevent illness caused by pathogens like coronavirus in humans"
The study underlines the potential to gain new insights into the management of viral diseases by studying bat genomes. The results could lead to innovative strategies in medicine in the long term.
Category Research
