Comparative analysis of single cell lung atlas of bat, cat, tiger and pangolin (preprint)

Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus sinicus) might help maintain coronaviruses severely affecting human health, such as SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. It has long been suggested that bats may be more tolerant of viral infection than other mammals due to their unique immune system, but the exact mechanism remains to be fully explored. During the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple animal species were diseased by SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially in the respiratory system. Herein, single-cell transcriptomic data of the lungs of a horseshoe bat, a cat, a tiger, and a pangolin were generated. The receptor distribution of twenty-eight respiratory viruses belonging to fourteen viral families were characterized for the four species. Comparison on the immune-related transcripts further revealed limited cytokine activations in bats, which might explain the reason why bats experienced only mild diseases or even no symptoms upon virus infection. Our findings might increase our understanding of the immune background of horseshoe bats and their insensitivity to virus infections.

Viral receptor profiles of masked palm civet revealed by single-cell transcriptomics (preprint)

Civets are small mammals belonging to the family Viverridae. The masked palm civets (Paguma larvata) served as an intermediate host in the bat-to-human transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003. Because of their unique role in the SARS outbreak, civets were suspected as a potential intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2, the etiological pathogen of the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides their susceptibility to coronaviruses, civets can also be infected by other viruses, such as canine distemper viruses, parvoviruses, influenza viruses, etc. Regarding the ecological and economical role of civets, it is vital to evaluate the potential threats from different pathogens to these animals. Receptor binding is a necessary step for virus entry into host cells. Understanding the distribution of receptors of various viruses provides hints to their potential tissue tropisms. Herein, we characterized the cell atlas of five important organs (the frontal lobe, lung, liver, spleen and kidney) of masked palm civets (Paguma larvata) and described the expression profiles of receptor associated genes of 132 viruses from 25 families, including 16 viruses from 10 families reported before that can attack civets and 116 viruses with little infection record.