Cloning, expression, and antiviral activity of interferon β from the Chinese microbat, Myotis davidii(Download the PDF)
Ying-Zi Liang, Li-Jun Wu, Qian Zhang, Peng Zhou, Mei-Niang Wang, Xing-Lou Yang, Xing-Yi Ge, Lin-Fa Wang, Zheng-Li Shi*
Abstract: Bats are natural reservoir hosts for many viruses that produce no clinical symptoms in bats.
Therefore, bats may have evolved effective mechanisms to control viral replication. However, little
information is available on bat immune responses to viral infection. Type I interferon (IFN) plays a
key role in controlling viral infections. In this study, we report the cloning, expression, and
biological activity of interferon β (IFNβ) from the Chinese microbat species, Myotis davidii. We
demonstrated the upregulation of IFNB and IFN-stimulated genes in a kidney cell line derived from
M. davidii after treatment with polyI:C or infection with Sendai virus. Furthermore, the recombinant
IFNβ inhibited vesicular stomatitis virus and bat adenovirus replication in cell lines from two bat
species, M. davidii and Rhinolophus sinicus. We provide the first in vitro evidence of IFNβ antiviral
activity in microbats, which has important implications for virus interactions with these hosts.