# Tolerance and resistance responses of African bats to viral antigens: Immunological tradeoffs in zoonotic reservoir hosts.

> **NIH NIH R01** · BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $610,710

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
This project focuses on understanding the role that the unique physiology of bats plays in their ability to act as
host reservoirs for diseases that can spill over to humans. The project will be carried out under field conditions
in Uganda on three species of bats that have varying links to the spread of Ebola virus (EBOV) to humans. By
comparing the ability of these three species of bats to respond to Ebola-like immune challenges, this work will
help identify the characteristics that contribute to spillover risk. In the long term, this work will help identify host
species for EBOV and other related viruses that present risk to humans. It will also help explain how different
species of bats respond to different types of viral infections. The main focus of this project will be to identify
behaviors and molecular pathways that enable reservoir hosts to tolerate infections, providing critical insight
into one of the mechanisms that leads to spillover. This work is driven by the hypothesis that some bat species
have coevolved with particular types of viral infections and, therefore, have adapted mechanisms to minimize
pathology during infection. Bats are globally biodiverse and have many unique ecological and physiological
adaptations, including flight and the ability to employ both hypo- and hyperthermic body temperature
regulation. This project focuses on three bat species chosen because they are in close contact with humans,
their habitats cover the range of EBOV exposure risk, and they have divergent coevolutionary histories with
viral pathogens; two of the three species have significant ties to EBOV epidemiology. This project addresses
these questions under natural conditions in the field by taking the innovative approach of using EBOV virus-like
particles as a proxy for experimental infection with biohazardous pathogens. This project has three specific
aims that will allow the achievement of its goals. First, the project tests the hypothesis that specific African bat
species will display signatures of EBOV disease tolerance in response to challenge with EBOV virus-like
particles, and thus are likely to be natural reservoir hosts. These experiments will provide significant insight into
disease tolerance in bats and the potential identity of EBOV reservoir(s). Second, this project tests the
hypothesis that bats display variable levels of disease tolerance that depend upon innate immune pathways
that have undergone unique evolutionary selection in bats. Third, this project explores whether tolerance of
and resistance to viral infection are facilitated by the unique metabolic behaviors of bats, namely that they can
depress metabolism and enter torpor to conserve energy and can elevate metabolism and thus temperature
during flight. The role of changes in body temperature is poorly understood and these experiments will identify
whether these physiological responses contribute to immunological tolerance and resistance in important
disease res...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10360547
- **Project number:** 5R01AI151144-02
- **Recipient organization:** BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kenneth A Field
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $610,710
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-03-01 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10360547

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10360547, Tolerance and resistance responses of African bats to viral antigens: Immunological tradeoffs in zoonotic reservoir hosts. (5R01AI151144-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10360547. Licensed CC0.

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