A Synthetic Consensus Chiroptera IFN-β Induces IFN-I Signaling Across Diverse Bat Taxa

A synthetic consensus Chiroptera IFN-β is functional in bat cells from six diverse bat families, inducing an IFN-stimulated gene repertoire comparable to conspecific IFN-β.

• Why it matters: Bat-associated viruses often cause severe disease in humans while remaining subclinical in bats, but tools to study bat IFN-I antiviral signaling are limited.
• What they did: The study designed and validated a bat order-level consensus IFN (Chiroptera IFN-β) and tested its activity in Jamaican fruit bat cells by measuring IFN-stimulated gene responses.
• The result: The resource enables faster investigation of bat innate antiviral responses and supports exploring differences in IFN-I signaling between bats and humans.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.