VIDO researchers collaborate with international team to unlock secrets of bat genomes
Bats are evolutionary marvels that have spent millions of years refining their genetic makeup. This lengthy genetic fine-tuning has likely allowed them to achieve impressive traits that make bats one of the most unique mammals in the world. And while it may seem like we don’t have much in common with bats, these unique creatures actually offer a lot of insight into how humans may get sick and even how we age.
By Erin Matthews, Research Profile and Impact“Bats are really important animals, not just for the ecosystem but for our understanding of human health,” said Dr. Arinjay Banerjee (PhD), principal scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and adjunct professor in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask).
Banerjee and his trainees—post-doctoral fellow Dr. Kaushal Baid (PhD) and PhD students Victoria Gonzalez and Arkadeb Bhuinya from the Department of Veterinary Microbiology—are trying to identify what makes bats naturally resistant to certain infections and how their genes play a role in their extremely efficient immune response.
In a new paper published in Nature, the team focused on one particular bat gene that gives these nocturnal mammals an advantage over viruses.
“When humans are infected with viruses, we see a lot of inflammation and that causes severe disease symptoms,” said Bhuinya. “This study looked at an antiviral gene in bats known as ISG15 and we found that it reduces the number of viruses in cells, but this effect was dependent on the species of bat.”
ISG15 isn’t unique to bats. In fact, the same gene can be found in humans, but it’s built a bit differently and doesn’t offer the same protection against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We found that bats who had these antiviral advantages had different amino acids within ISG15 than we have,” said Gonzalez. “So, we’re seeing that bats have adapted certain proteins that reduce inflammation and allow them to tolerate infection without getting sick.”
In total, the article presents new genomes from 10 bat species which were determined by a team of international scientists, including researchers from the lab of Dr. Michael Hiller at the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics, the lab of Dr. Aaron Irving (PhD), and the Bat1K consortium. The Bat1K consortium is central to the studies of bat genomics and comparative immunology.
“Generally, we have access to incomplete genomes so it can be really hard to do this kind of analysis,” said Baid. “But these 10 reference-quality genomes will facilitate a lot of research and are such a great contribution to our field.”
The newly sequenced genomes could open doors for a wide range of research on human health and could even unlock secrets into how we can live longer lives.
“Bats have an exceptionally long lifespan for their size, and researchers are finding that they likely don’t develop cancer like other mammals do, although this needs more research,” said Banerjee. “These genomes will allow researchers to better study bat longevity and its implications for humans, along with shedding light on the evolution of antiviral mechanisms in mammals.”
With their range of expertise, Banerjee and his team conducted all the high containment lab work for the study at VIDO’s containment Level 3 (CL3) lab, including testing the bat gene’s ability to fight off viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
“We couldn’t have done this work without the infrastructure we have at VIDO and USask,” said Banerjee.
Understanding a bat’s natural resistance to infection gives researchers like Banerjee a better understanding of how humans get sick, and studying the antiviral proteins they have evolved to fight viruses also unlocks new ways to treat illnesses.
“When we understand why certain mammals get sick and others don’t, it opens doors to developing new therapies to counteract those infections,” said Banerjee.