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1. Human dimensions of bat conservation – 10 recommendations to improve and diversify studies of human-bat interactions

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109304  

   Straka, Tanja M.; Coleman, Joanna; Macdonald, Ewan A.; Kingston, Tigga (October 2021, Biological Conservation)

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2. Bat-borne virus diversity, spillover and emergence

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-020-0394-z  

   Letko, Michael; Seifert, Stephanie N.; Olival, Kevin J.; Plowright, Raina K.; Munster, Vincent J. (June 2020, Nature Reviews Microbiology)
3. Bat Biology, Genomes, and the Bat1K Project: To Generate Chromosome-Level Genomes for All Living Bat Species

   https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-animal-022516-022811  

   Teeling, Emma C.; Vernes, Sonja C.; Dávalos, Liliana M.; Ray, David A.; Gilbert, M. Thomas; Myers, Eugene (February 2018, Annual Review of Animal Biosciences)

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4. Expanding the bat toolbox: Carollia perspicillata bat cell lines and reagents enable the characterization of viral susceptibility and innate immune responses

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003098  

   Gonzalez, Victoria; Word, Cierra; Guerra-Pilaquinga, Nahomi; Mazinani, Mitra; Fawcett, Stephen; Portfors, Christine; Falzarano, Darryl; Kell, Alison M; Jangra, Rohit K; Banerjee, Arinjay; et al (April 2025, PLOS Biology)

   Kedzierska, Katherine (Ed.)

   Multiple viruses that are highly pathogenic in humans are known to have evolved in bats. How bats tolerate infection with these viruses, however, is poorly understood. As viruses engage in a wide range of interactions with their hosts, it is essential to study bat viruses in a system that resembles their natural environment like bat-derived in vitro cellular models. However, stable and accessible bat cell lines are not widely available for the broader scientific community. Here, we generated in vitro reagents for the Seba’s short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata), tested multiple methods of immortalization, and characterized their susceptibility to virus infection and response to immune stimulation. Using pseudotyped virus library and authentic virus infections, we show that theseC. perspicillatacell lines derived from a diverse array of tissues are susceptible to viruses bearing the glycoprotein of numerous orthohantaviruses, including Andes and Hantaan virus and are also susceptible to live hantavirus infection. Furthermore, stimulation with synthetic double-stranded RNA prior to infection with vesicular stomatitis virus and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus induced a protective antiviral response, demonstrating the suitability of our cell lines to study the bat antiviral immune response. Taken together, the approaches outlined here will inform future efforts to develop in vitro tools for virology from non-model organisms and theseC. perspicillatacell lines will enable studies on virus–host interactions in these bats. 

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5. Bartonella Infection in Fruit Bats and Bat Flies, Bangladesh

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-023-02293-9  

   Fagre, Anna C.; Islam, Ausraful; Reeves, Will K.; Kading, Rebekah C.; Plowright, Raina K.; Gurley, Emily S.; McKee, Clifton D. (November 2023, Microbial Ecology)

   Bats harbor diverse intracellular Bartonella bacteria, but there is limited understanding of the factors that influence transmission over time. Investigation of Bartonella dynamics in bats could reveal general factors that control transmission of multiple bat-borne pathogens, including viruses. We used molecular methods to detect Bartonella DNA in paired bat (Pteropus medius) blood and bat flies in the family Nycteribiidae collected from a roost in Faridpur, Bangladesh between September 2020 and January 2021. We detected high prevalence of Bartonella DNA in bat blood (35/55, 64%) and bat flies (59/60, 98%), with sequences grouping into three phylogenetic clades. Prevalence in bat blood increased over the study period (33% to 90%), reflecting an influx of juvenile bats in the population and an increase in the prevalence of bat flies. Discordance between infection status and the clade/genotype of detected Bartonella was also observed in pairs of bats and their flies, providing evidence that bat flies take blood meals from multiple bat hosts. This evidence of bat fly transfer between hosts and the changes in Bartonella prevalence during a period of increasing nycteribiid density support the role of bat flies as vectors of bartonellae. The study provides novel information on comparative prevalence and genetic diversity of Bartonella in pteropodid bats and their ectoparasites, as well as demographic factors that affect Bartonella transmission and potentially other bat-borne pathogens. 

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