Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses.

Multiple viruses that are highly pathogenic in humans are known to have evolved in bats. How bats tolerate infection with these viruses, however, is poorly understood. As viruses engage in a wide range of interactions with their hosts, it is essential to study bat viruses in a system that resembles...

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Main Authors: Victoria Gonzalez, Cierra Word, Nahomi Guerra-Pilaquinga, Mitra Mazinani, Stephen Fawcett, Christine Portfors, Darryl Falzarano, Alison M Kell, Rohit K Jangra, Arinjay Banerjee, Stephanie N Seifert, Michael Letko
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-04-01
Series:PLoS Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003098
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author Victoria Gonzalez
Cierra Word
Nahomi Guerra-Pilaquinga
Mitra Mazinani
Stephen Fawcett
Christine Portfors
Darryl Falzarano
Alison M Kell
Rohit K Jangra
Arinjay Banerjee
Stephanie N Seifert
Michael Letko
author_facet Victoria Gonzalez
Cierra Word
Nahomi Guerra-Pilaquinga
Mitra Mazinani
Stephen Fawcett
Christine Portfors
Darryl Falzarano
Alison M Kell
Rohit K Jangra
Arinjay Banerjee
Stephanie N Seifert
Michael Letko
author_sort Victoria Gonzalez
collection DOAJ
description Multiple viruses that are highly pathogenic in humans are known to have evolved in bats. How bats tolerate infection with these viruses, however, is poorly understood. As viruses engage in a wide range of interactions with their hosts, it is essential to study bat viruses in a system that resembles their natural environment like bat-derived in vitro cellular models. However, stable and accessible bat cell lines are not widely available for the broader scientific community. Here, we generated in vitro reagents for the Seba's short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata), tested multiple methods of immortalization, and characterized their susceptibility to virus infection and response to immune stimulation. Using pseudotyped virus library and authentic virus infections, we show that these C. perspicillata cell lines derived from a diverse array of tissues are susceptible to viruses bearing the glycoprotein of numerous orthohantaviruses, including Andes and Hantaan virus and are also susceptible to live hantavirus infection. Furthermore, stimulation with synthetic double-stranded RNA prior to infection with vesicular stomatitis virus and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus induced a protective antiviral response, demonstrating the suitability of our cell lines to study the bat antiviral immune response. Taken together, the approaches outlined here will inform future efforts to develop in vitro tools for virology from non-model organisms and these C. perspicillata cell lines will enable studies on virus-host interactions in these bats.
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spelling doaj-art-a7d1c41c041f4ba58b7d3b39ebf59b8c2025-08-20T02:19:18ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Biology1544-91731545-78852025-04-01234e300309810.1371/journal.pbio.3003098Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses.Victoria GonzalezCierra WordNahomi Guerra-PilaquingaMitra MazinaniStephen FawcettChristine PortforsDarryl FalzaranoAlison M KellRohit K JangraArinjay BanerjeeStephanie N SeifertMichael LetkoMultiple viruses that are highly pathogenic in humans are known to have evolved in bats. How bats tolerate infection with these viruses, however, is poorly understood. As viruses engage in a wide range of interactions with their hosts, it is essential to study bat viruses in a system that resembles their natural environment like bat-derived in vitro cellular models. However, stable and accessible bat cell lines are not widely available for the broader scientific community. Here, we generated in vitro reagents for the Seba's short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata), tested multiple methods of immortalization, and characterized their susceptibility to virus infection and response to immune stimulation. Using pseudotyped virus library and authentic virus infections, we show that these C. perspicillata cell lines derived from a diverse array of tissues are susceptible to viruses bearing the glycoprotein of numerous orthohantaviruses, including Andes and Hantaan virus and are also susceptible to live hantavirus infection. Furthermore, stimulation with synthetic double-stranded RNA prior to infection with vesicular stomatitis virus and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus induced a protective antiviral response, demonstrating the suitability of our cell lines to study the bat antiviral immune response. Taken together, the approaches outlined here will inform future efforts to develop in vitro tools for virology from non-model organisms and these C. perspicillata cell lines will enable studies on virus-host interactions in these bats.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003098
spellingShingle Victoria Gonzalez
Cierra Word
Nahomi Guerra-Pilaquinga
Mitra Mazinani
Stephen Fawcett
Christine Portfors
Darryl Falzarano
Alison M Kell
Rohit K Jangra
Arinjay Banerjee
Stephanie N Seifert
Michael Letko
Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses.
PLoS Biology
title Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses.
title_full Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses.
title_fullStr Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses.
title_full_unstemmed Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses.
title_short Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses.
title_sort expanding the bat toolbox carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003098
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