Intellectual Merit:

Despite the availability of vaccines and mitigations, COVID-19 continues to impact all aspects of our society. By reaching millions of viewers worldwide, our project has directly contributed to scientific literacy in the United States, beyond our borders. Engagement with the project has the potential to improve society, by presenting to the public with the scientific evidence for links between biodiversity and zoonotic spillovers. Our project also identified consistent differences among bats and between bats and other mammals that are likely involved in mediating viral entry and immune response. These differences encompass scales from gene expression to cell distribution, and organ location. While grounded in comparative histology, the techniques developed for this RAPID are of interest to scientists working on neurobiology, anatomy, and molecular ecology.

The project had three major objectives:

1) Compare the nasal passage of bats with and without VNOs, humans, and mice, using histology and 3D imaging.

2) Analyze the gene and protein expression of markers of goblet cell function (including SARS-CoV2 receptors) in the nasal epithelium of bats, humans, and mice.

3) Determine nasal epithelial function in bats with and without VNOs by combining transcriptomic data and immune staining.

Objective 1 is near completion. We were able to obtain histological specimens from samples >100 years old, as well as complement our collections with de novo noses at no cost to this grant. In addition, our data helped annotate >35 bats genomes to analyze the immune repertoires of Chiroptera and compared with outgroup mammals.

Objective 2 is partially complete. Between-species transcriptome data took some time, but we now have a full pipeline culminating in Ornstein-Uhlenbeck models of gene expression evolution and finding differential expression in key genes in the nose and other organs.

Objective 3 has been the most difficult. While immunostaining in formaldehyde preserved specimens can work, our older specimens (dating as far back as 1931) have proven difficult to immunostain. This is due, in part, to prolonged preservation in formaldehyde and ethanol, as well as unknowable elements during the specimen?s collection and preservation history. Our newly collected specimens in liquid nitrogen vapor, however, are currently being cut and should offer us with the best possible material to perform immunostaining yet.

Broader Impacts: The COVID-19 pandemic was a hindrance to some objectives associated with this project, but we were still able to implement broader impact activities, reaching millions. in October 2020, NOVA/ARTE filmed the work of Drs. Corthals, Davalos, and Yohe on bat nasal anatomy in connection to COVID-19 at Stony Brook University. Work for this grant is extremely well represented and the documentary has reached a wide audience of millions of both public and researchers alike. This documentary aired first in the United States in September 2021, as part of the PBS series NOVA. In Europe it releases in the arts and science cable channel ARTE, and across both regions, the documentary is still in rotation at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/bat-superpowers/

Seven undergraduate students (Francesca Yalong, Rintaro Kato, Navita Peters, Mateo Sanz, Tyler Polakovich and joining this semester (Fall 2022) are Xitlali Maceda and Rahele Gadapaka) from a minority serving institution, John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York (CUNY), have been collaborating on this project for research credit, giving them an exposure to research opportunity, but also a purpose and special value to their work by being part of the greater worldwide scientific community, as thousands of scientists around the world are trying to uncover the origins, treatment, and prophylactics for COVID-19.

Our John Jay students have already presented their preliminary results at the PRISM and CUNY research days in May 2022 at the poster session. One of the students, Rintaro Kato, was offered a prestigious post-baccalaureate fellowship at the NIH based on a presentation of our preliminary results.

Rahele and Xitlali are continuing the work on the immunostaining and are expected to present their results at next semester's CUNY Research Day, as well as next year's NASBR meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Finally, the award was used to support three publications:

Moreno Santillan DD, Lama TM, Gutierrez Guerrero YT, Brown AM, Donat P, Zhao H, Rossiter SJ, Yohe LR, Potter JH, Teeling EC, et al. 2021. Large-scale genome sampling reveals unique immunity and metabolic adaptations in bats. Molecular Ecology 30:6449-6467.

Yohe LR, Fabbri M, Lee D, Davies KTJ, Yohe TP, Sanchez MKR, Rengifo EM, Hall R, Mutumi G, Hedrick BP, et al. 2022. Ecological constraints on highly evolvable olfactory receptor genes and morphology in neotropical bats. Evolution n/a.

Yohe LR, Leiser-Miller LB, Kaliszewska ZA, Donat P, Santana SE, Davalos LM. 2021. Diversity in olfactory receptor repertoires is associated with dietary specialization in a genus of frugivorous bat. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics 11:jkab260.

We also delivered 14 seminars, lectures, or posters at a variety of local and international venues.

Last Modified: 10/27/2022
Modified by: Liliana M Davalos Alvarez