Infection Studies with Airway Organoids from <i>Carollia perspicillata</i> Indicate That the Respiratory Epithelium Is Not a Barrier for Interspecies Transmission of Influenza Viruses
Ang Su, Miaomiao Yan, Suvarin Pavasutthipaisit, Kathrin D. Wicke, Guntram A. Graßl, Andreas Beineke, Felix Felmy, Sabine Schmidt, Karl‐Heinz Esser, Paul Becher, Georg Herrler
Abstract
. Using this cell system, we showed that the airway epithelium of these bats is highly susceptible to infection by influenza viruses of other mammalian species and thus is not a barrier for interspecies transmission. These organoids provide an almost unlimited supply of airway epithelial cells that can be used to generate well-differentiated epithelial cells and perform infection studies. The establishment of the organoid model required only three animals, and can be extended to other epithelia (nose, intestine) as well as to other species (bat and other animal species). Therefore, organoids promise to be a valuable tool for future zoonosis research on the interspecies transmission of viruses (e.g., bat → intermediate host → human).