Bats, viruses, and immunity: Research reveals how bats could help prevent future pandemics

Bats, notorious carriers of deadly zoonotic diseases are everyone's nightmare, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as per recent research, they may also hold the key to understanding viral immunity.

A recent study by a Texas A&M research team, published in the journal Cell Genomics, has revealed that certain bat species are naturally protected against the viruses they harbour — Ebola, COVID-19 etc. This, they reason is due to bats' unique immune genes, which are exchanged during seasonal mating swarms.

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Evolutionary wonders

Dr Nicole Foley who along with Dr William Murphy, from the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS), spearheaded the research said: "Understanding how bats have evolved viral tolerance may help us learn how humans can better fight emerging diseases."

They believe that studying bats' viral tolerance could be crucial in preventing future global pandemics. Foley explains, "As genomicists, our work often lays the groundwork for research by scientists who study virus transmission directly. They may be developing vaccines for diseases or monitoring vulnerable animal populations. We all depend on each other to stay ahead of the next pandemic," she added. 

"Several bat species are tolerant of viruses that are detrimental to human health, which means they become reservoirs for disease — they carry the viruses, but crucially they don't develop symptoms," noted Foley.

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To unravel the mystery of bat immunity, the researchers focused on Myotis bats, a vast genus with over 140 species worldwide. These bats engage in swarming behaviour during mating.

"You can think of swarming behaviour like a social gathering; there’s lots of flight activity, increased communication and interspecies mingling; for bats, it's not unlike going to a club," said Foley.

However, the more than 100 species of the Myotis bat pose a challenge, as similar appearances and frequent hybridisation make species identification difficult.

Foley and Murphy, along with international partners from Ireland, France and Switzerland, sequenced the genomes of 60 Myotis bat species to map their evolutionary tree and identify genes involved in disease immunity.

Amazing find

Surprisingly, the researchers found that immune genes were among the most exchanged between species during swarming. 

Foley explains that swarming may have evolved "to promote hybridisation, which helps spread beneficial immune gene variants more widely throughout the population."

This discovery raises new questions about the role of hybridisation in mammalian evolution. They are now investigating other instances of hybridisation in mammals to understand its impact on evolutionary history and genome organisation.

(With inputs from agencies)