Single-cell transcriptome analysis of the in vivo response to viral infection in the cave nectar bat Eonycteris spelaea

Authors:

• Gamage, Akshamal M.
• Chan, Wharton O.Y.
• Zhu, Feng
• Lim, Yan Ting
• Long, Sandy
• Ahn, Matae
• Tan, Chee Wah
• Hiang Foo, Randy Jee
• Sia, Wan Rong
• Lim, Xiao Fang
• He, Haopeng
• Zhai, Weiwei
• Anderson, Danielle E.
• Sobota, Radoslaw Mikolaj
• Dutertre, Charles-Antoine
• Wang, Lin-Fa

Details:

Immunity, Volume 55, Issue 11, 2022-11-08

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Bats are reservoir hosts of many zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential. We utilized single-cell transcriptome sequencing (scRNA-seq) to analyze the immune response in bat lungs upon in vivo infection with a double-stranded RNA virus, Pteropine orthoreovirus PRV3M. Bat neutrophils were distinguished by high basal IDO1 expression. NK cells and T cells were the most abundant immune cells in lung tissue. Three distinct CD8+ effector T cell populations could be delineated by differential expression of KLRB1, GFRA2, and DPP4. Select NK and T clusters increased expression of genes involved in T cell activation and effector function early after viral infection. Alveolar macrophages and classical monocytes drove antiviral interferon signaling. Infection expanded a CSF1R + population expressing collagen-like genes, which became the predominant myeloid cell type post-infection. This work uncovers features relevant to viral disease tolerance in bats, lays a foundation for future experimental work, and serves as a resource for comparative immunology studies.