Five years retired from the COVID-19 outbreak, scientists around the world are still studying their effects and, more importantly, these effects can be mitigated in the future. An international team of researchers may have found a critical clue in the search, and a laboratory from the Texas Technological University played a key role.
The Ray Laboratory, led by the professor of the Department of Biological Sciences and Associate President David Ray, as part of a study on Bat genomes published by The Scientific Journal NatureHe helped identify the components of a genome in a specific species of bats that have shown more genetic adaptations in their immune systems than other animals.
The study revealed that a common gene in some bats can reduce the production of the SARS-COV-2 virus by up to 90%, which could help lead to new medical approaches to combat viral diseases.
“Bats have an incredible capacity to resist some of the worst effects of viral infection that make us so vulnerable to certain diseases,” Ray said. “While we get sick a lot, bats barely flash when they are exposed to the same pathogens.”
Ray said his laboratory helped the annotation of genome assemblies in bats. The genome annotation is how scientists characterize all genome components: genes, regulatory sequences and non -coding and coding regions. The Texas Technological Laboratory identified the regions of the transpononable element (TE) of assemblies, where DNA bits can create new copies of themselves and introduce variations within the genome.
Ray said that bats have a repertoire of you unique among mammals, presenting a potentially powerful way to generate new genetic paths to deal with pathogens such as Coronavirus.
“If each individual of a species were genetically identical, they would all have the same risk associated with infection, if one dies, everyone dies,” Ray said. “They are an excellent way for organisms to generate genetic diversity in the species, allowing some individuals to survive better in the face of environmental pressures such as viral diseases.”
This study is part of a larger international project called Bat1k, which tries to sequence and assemble the genomes of each species of living bat, which add up to 1,500, according to Ray. It was directed by the Sigkenberg Research Institute and the Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.
Michael Hiller, a professor of comparative genomics at the University of Goethe and a member of the Sigkenberg Institute is one of the main researchers in the study. He and Ray are members of the Executive Board of the Bat1K consortium, and their relationship provided the perfect opportunity for Ray’s Lab to collaborate with the international scientific community.
The laboratory studies the genome and the evolution of the genome with emphasis on themes. His previous studies have included the investigation of the genome on bats and other mammals, crocodiles and several insects. The laboratory has worked with entities in the past, such as the National Foundation of Sciences, the United States Department of Agriculture, the State of Texas and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries of Texas.
The researchers in this recent study paid special attention to the ISG15 gene, which is associated with a severe COVID-19 course in humans. It is known that bats transport numerous viruses, including transmissible for humans, but do not show any symptoms of disease when infected.
The ISG15 study of bats, according to the study, can reduce the production of the Sars COV-2 virus by 80-90%. On the contrary, the ISG15 gene of a human genome showed no antiviral effect on this study.
“Therefore, the ISG15 gene is probably one of several factors that contribute to resistance to viral diseases in bats,” said Hiller. “These promising results can be used as a basis for other experimental studies, which are necessary to decipher the unique adaptations of the immune system of bats.”