Alterations in Immune Genes Make Bats Great Viral Hosts

Bat species use different strategies to dampen immune activation in response to viruses.

Written byAbby Olena, PhD
| 3 min read

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ABOVE: Cave nectar bat (Eonycteris spelaea)
FENG ZHU

Bats act as reservoirs for lots of viruses—including coronaviruses such as those that cause Middle East respiratory syndrome, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and possibly COVID-19—but they don’t often get sick themselves. How they avoid viral illness has been an open question. Researchers reported in PNAS yesterday (October 26) that various species of bats have slightly different ways of suppressing inflammation, all centered on changes in genes responsible for triggering innate immune responses.

The authors demonstrate a number of the mechanisms in bats that seem to support their capacity to tolerate viruses that make other mammals really sick, says Cara Brook, a postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the work. “This follows a series of other publications that really highlight a dampened inflammatory response in bats that suggests that they are uniquely resistant and resilient to the consequences ...

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  • abby olena

    As a freelancer for The Scientist, Abby reports on new developments in life science for the website. She has a PhD from Vanderbilt University and got her start in science journalism as the Chicago Tribune’s AAAS Mass Media Fellow in 2013. Following a stint as an intern for The Scientist, Abby was a postdoc in science communication at Duke University, where she developed and taught courses to help scientists share their research. In addition to her work as a science journalist, she leads science writing and communication workshops and co-produces a conversational podcast. She is based in Alabama.  

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