Department of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom.
Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2020 Dec 11;10:527921. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.527921. eCollection 2020.
Interferons are an essential component of the innate arm of the immune system and are arguably one of the most important lines of defence against viruses. The human IFN system and its functionality has already been largely characterized and studied in detail. However, the IFN systems of bats have only been marginally examined to date up until the recent developments of the Bat1k project which have now opened new opportunities in research by identifying six new bat genomes to possess novel genes that are likely associated with viral tolerance exhibited in bats. Interestingly, bats have been hypothesized to possess the ability to establish a host-virus relationship where despite being infected, they exhibit limited signs of disease and still retain the ability to transmit the disease into other susceptible hosts. Bats are one of the most abundant and widespread vertebrates on the planet and host many zoonotic viruses that are highly pathogenic to humans. Several genomics, immunological, and biological features are thought to underlie novel antiviral mechanisms of bats. This review aims to explore the bat IFN system and developments in its diverse IFN features, focusing mainly on the model species, the Australian black flying fox (), while also highlighting bat innate immunity as an exciting and fruitful area of research to understand their ability to control viral-mediated pathogenesis.
干扰素是先天免疫系统的重要组成部分，可以说是对抗病毒最重要的防御线之一。人类 IFN 系统及其功能已经得到了广泛的描述和详细的研究。然而，迄今为止，蝙蝠的 IFN 系统仅得到了有限的研究，直到最近的 Bat1k 项目的发展，该项目通过鉴定六个具有可能与蝙蝠中表现出的病毒耐受相关的新基因的新型蝙蝠基因组，为研究提供了新的机会。有趣的是，蝙蝠被假设具有建立宿主-病毒关系的能力，尽管它们被感染，但它们表现出有限的疾病迹象，并且仍然能够将疾病传播给其他易感宿主。蝙蝠是地球上最丰富和广泛分布的脊椎动物之一，宿主携带许多对人类具有高度致病性的人畜共患病毒。几种基因组学、免疫学和生物学特征被认为是蝙蝠新型抗病毒机制的基础。本综述旨在探讨蝙蝠 IFN 系统及其多样化 IFN 特征的发展，主要集中在模型物种，即澳大利亚黑飞狐（），同时强调蝙蝠先天免疫作为一个令人兴奋和富有成果的研究领域，以了解它们控制病毒介导的发病机制的能力。
