RESEARCH ARTICLE


Molecular and Phylogenetic Characterization of Cytokine Genes from Seba's Short-Tailed Bat (Carollia perspicillata)



Ann C. Cogswell-Hawkinson1, Mitchell E. McGlaughlin1, Charles H. Calisher2, Rick Adams1, Tony Schountz*, 1
1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, 501 20th Street, Greeley, CO 80369, USA
2 Arthropod-Borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2011
Volume: 4
First Page: 31
Last Page: 39
Publisher Id: TOIJ-4-31
DOI: 10.2174/1874226201104010031

Article History:

Received Date: 8/8/2011
Revision Received Date: 13/10/2011
Acceptance Date: 13/10/2011
Electronic publication date: 13/12/2011
Collection year: 2011

© 2011 Cogswell-Hawkinson et al;

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, 501 20th Street, Greeley, CO 80369, USA; Tel: 01 970 351 2923; Fax: 01 970 351 2335; E-mail: tony.schountz@unco.edu


Abstract

Bats (order Chiroptera) represent nearly one fourth of the approximately 5,000 known species of mammals, yet many aspects of their biology are poorly understood. Bats of certain species are well known reservoirs of rabies virus but within the past few years bats also have been identified as reservoirs or potential reservoirs of several other important human and livestock pathogens. In some instances, these viruses may cause persistent infections without recognized pathology in the bat host. Even though these are medically important viruses, little is known as to how bat immune systems engage viruses or how these viruses may evade a sterilizing host immune response. We have recently initiated research on Seba's short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata), which may be a reservoir for a newly discovered coronavirus. We cloned and characterized cDNAs of four cytokine genes; tumor necrosis factor, interleukin- 10, interleukin-23a, and granulocyte macrophage stimulating factor. Our sequence analysis shows these genes are highly conserved with regard to orthologous sequences and they provide some value for resolving phylogenetic relationships between mammals. This work represents a first step in developing an infection and immunology model for a New World coronavirus in bats.

Keywords: Chiroptera, Cytokines, Carollia Perspicillata, Seba’s Short-Tailed Fruit Bat.