Division of Systems Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 1088639, Japan.
Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto 6068507, Japan.
Gigascience. 2022 Dec 28;12. doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giad086. Epub 2023 Oct 17.
Bats harbor various viruses without severe symptoms and act as their natural reservoirs. The tolerance of bats against viral infections is assumed to originate from the uniqueness of their immune system. However, how immune responses vary between primates and bats remains unclear. Here, we characterized differences in the immune responses by peripheral blood mononuclear cells to various pathogenic stimuli between primates (humans, chimpanzees, and macaques) and bats (Egyptian fruit bats) using single-cell RNA sequencing.
We show that the induction patterns of key cytosolic DNA/RNA sensors and antiviral genes differed between primates and bats. A novel subset of monocytes induced by pathogenic stimuli specifically in bats was identified. Furthermore, bats robustly respond to DNA virus infection even though major DNA sensors are dampened in bats.
Overall, our data suggest that immune responses are substantially different between primates and bats, presumably underlying the difference in viral pathogenicity among the mammalian species tested.
蝙蝠携带各种病毒而没有严重症状，并充当它们的天然宿主。蝙蝠对病毒感染的耐受性被认为源于其免疫系统的独特性。然而，灵长类动物和蝙蝠之间的免疫反应有何不同尚不清楚。在这里，我们使用单细胞 RNA 测序来描述灵长类动物（人类、黑猩猩和猕猴）和蝙蝠（埃及果蝠）的外周血单核细胞对各种病原体刺激的免疫反应的差异。
我们表明，关键的细胞质 DNA/RNA 传感器和抗病毒基因的诱导模式在灵长类动物和蝙蝠之间存在差异。在蝙蝠中，我们鉴定出一种由病原体刺激特异性诱导的新型单核细胞亚群。此外，尽管蝙蝠中的主要 DNA 传感器受到抑制，但蝙蝠仍能对 DNA 病毒感染产生强烈反应。
总体而言，我们的数据表明，灵长类动物和蝙蝠之间的免疫反应存在显著差异，这可能是受测哺乳动物物种中病毒致病性差异的基础。
