title: Contraction of the type I IFN locus and unusual constitutive expression of IFN-α in bats.
abstract: Bats harbor many emerging and reemerging viruses, several of which are highly pathogenic in other mammals but cause no clinical signs of disease in bats. To determine the role of interferons (IFNs) in the ability of bats to coexist with viruses, we sequenced the type I IFN locus of the Australian black flying fox, Pteropus alecto, providing what is, to our knowledge, the first gene map of the IFN region of any bat species. Our results reveal a highly contracted type I IFN family consisting of only 10 IFNs, including three functional IFN-α loci. Furthermore, the three IFN-α genes are constitutively expressed in unstimulated bat tissues and cells and their expression is unaffected by viral infection. Constitutively expressed IFN-α results in the induction of a subset of IFN-stimulated genes associated with antiviral activity and resistance to DNA damage, providing evidence for a unique IFN system that may be linked to the ability of bats to coexist with viruses.
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia; Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore 169857; peng.zhou@duke-nus.edu.sg michelle.baker@csiro.au.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia;
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tachedjian
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia;
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Wynne
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia;
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.affiliation: Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore 169857;
authors.forename: Jie
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8176-9951
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia;
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia;
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cowled
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia; Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore 169857;
authors.forename: Justin H J
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia;
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mok
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia;
authors.forename: Wojtek P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Michalski
authors.affiliation: Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore 169857;
authors.forename: Ian H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Mendenhall
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biomedical Research, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia; Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia; Department of Infectious Diseases, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia; Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: Gilda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tachedjian
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia; Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore 169857;
authors.forename: Lin-Fa
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2752-0535
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia; peng.zhou@duke-nus.edu.sg michelle.baker@csiro.au.
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D045404:Hendra Virus / Q000502:physiology; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D007370:Interferon Type I; D016898:Interferon-alpha
keywords: bat immunology; innate immunity; interferon