key: cord-0683585-808je5mc
authors: Mann, Douglas L.
title: SARS-CoV-2 and Bats: From Flight to Fighting COVID-19
date: 2020-04-28
journal: JACC. Basic to translational science
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2020.04.012
sha: 5fc0a435f273510ef26f47c5ef42ae41ee490af4
doc_id: 683585
cord_uid: 808je5mc

nan

Bats have been getting a lot of bad press lately following the revelation that the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 shared 96.2% sequence identity with Bat CoV RaTG13 (1) . If one can move beyond the zoonotic public relations nightmare caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, bats present an amazing evolutionary story that may provide insights into the development of new therapeutic approaches for treating COVID-19 patients.

Bats (Chiroptera) represent one of the largest (> 1,3000 species) mammalian species, accounting for ~ 20% of all mammals. What makes bats unique is that that they are the only mammals capable of self-powered flight, which likely explains why bats inhabit every continent except for Antarctica. The earliest known bats likely arose during the Eocene era (49-53 million years ago); however, their actual evolutionary history is partially obscured by the paucity of intact fossil records. There have been a number of speculative theories with respect to whether bats evolved the ability to fly first or whether they first developed the ability to listen to the reflected echoes from sounds that they emitted in order to map out their environment ). There are also ongoing trials using interleukin-1β antagonists (NCT04330638, NCT04324021), which is one of the proinflammatory cytokines released secreted by cells following inflammasome activation.

The increasing recognition that bats serve as flying resorts for zoonotic diseases that become lethal when they jump to humans has prompted scientists to embark on a deeper understanding of exactly how bats are able to tolerate viral infections without experiencing disease. While some of the same anti-viral strategies that bats employ to modulate viral infections are also being tested in COVID-19 clinical trials (e.g. interferons), we still have a lot

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