An awesome new paper in Science came out this January, called “Comparative Analysis of Bat Genomes Provides Insight into the Evolution of Flight and Immunity”. Why is this article cool? The authors looked at the genomes of two really different bat species and compared them. One is a big bat called the black flying fox (Pteropus alecto), which doesn’t hibernate or echolocate. And it is REALLY big, we are talking 1m wingspans! The other is a little insect-eating bat, which does hibernate and echolocate (Myotis davidii). So what they have in common, is that they are mammals that fly, and they both are potential reservoirs of diseases (as many bats are). They looked at the DNA of other mammals, and tried to find consistent changes in the two bat species’ genomes, which they could attribute to flight/disease resistance. They found several changes related to the “DNA damage checkpoints”. This is probably related to the evolution of flight, which would have put stress on the cells of organisms as they adapted to have higher/different metabolisms and oxidative stresses. It seems that this also is related to changes in bats’ immune systems, which are very different from other mammals, and might be why they are able to harbor so many diseases that they don’t succumb to. –Interesting take-aways from the article: Bat (and bird) genomes are smaller than other animals, which is consistent with a “selective sweep”, when natural selection has left a strong mark on the DNA by reducing diversity around a favorable mutation. The mutation could have been in some of these genes the researchers found that allowed flight to occur, since it seems to be a trait associated with high fitness. Another reason biologists like this article is that evidence of selective sweeps is SUPER fun for them, because it adds to our understanding of how evolution has taken place. –One of the coolest and weirdest parts of the article is a side note about the closest mammal lineage to the order of bats… the Equus lineage! Which means there was a common ancestor to both bats and horses that lived about 88 million years ago! I now like to spend time imagining what this animal might have looked like… Read here for another take on article, that is definitely pro-bat, which I appreciate :)
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AuthorLots of scientific research that is being conducted is fascinating... but often it is in hard to understand language. Here I will try to translate current research papers into the "cool science" they are underneath all that jargon. ArchivesCategories
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