Institute of Virology, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2024 May 27;15(1):4500. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48934-6.
Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis) naturally harbor a wide range of viruses of human relevance. These infections are typically mild in bats, suggesting unique features of their immune system. To better understand the immune response to viral infections in bats, we infected male Jamaican fruit bats with the bat-derived influenza A virus (IAV) H18N11. Using comparative single-cell RNA sequencing, we generated single-cell atlases of the Jamaican fruit bat intestine and mesentery. Gene expression profiling showed that H18N11 infection resulted in a moderate induction of interferon-stimulated genes and transcriptional activation of immune cells. H18N11 infection was predominant in various leukocytes, including macrophages, B cells, and NK/T cells. Confirming these findings, human leukocytes, particularly macrophages, were also susceptible to H18N11, highlighting the zoonotic potential of this bat-derived IAV. Our study provides insight into a natural virus-host relationship and thus serves as a fundamental resource for future in-depth characterization of bat immunology.
牙买加果蝠（Artibeus jamaicensis）自然携带多种与人相关的病毒。这些感染在蝙蝠中通常是轻微的，表明它们的免疫系统具有独特的特征。为了更好地了解蝙蝠对病毒感染的免疫反应，我们用源自蝙蝠的甲型流感病毒（IAV）H18N11 感染雄性牙买加果蝠。通过比较单细胞 RNA 测序，我们生成了牙买加果蝠肠道和肠系膜的单细胞图谱。基因表达谱分析显示，H18N11 感染导致干扰素刺激基因中度诱导和免疫细胞转录激活。H18N11 感染主要发生在各种白细胞中，包括巨噬细胞、B 细胞和 NK/T 细胞。这些发现得到了证实，人类白细胞，特别是巨噬细胞，也容易受到 H18N11 的感染，这突出了这种源自蝙蝠的 IAV 的人畜共患病潜力。我们的研究提供了对自然病毒-宿主关系的深入了解，因此是未来深入研究蝙蝠免疫学的基础资源。
