Genetic trove aims to unlock bats’ secrets to long life

{"text":[[{"start":6.12,"text":"Scientists have created the largest-ever combined trove of bat genomic and fossil records, boosting the quest to unlock the secrets of why the creatures are so long lived and resistant to diseases."}],[{"start":17.776,"text":"The evolution of the world’s only flying mammal is a focus of research into sickness and ageing, in the hope that lessons such as its efficiency in killing off damaged cells might one day help improve human health."}],[{"start":30.387,"text":"The work is a step towards answering the many questions about an animal that has 1,500 species worldwide but has an origin story full of mysteries. The study suggests bats probably first appeared in Europe, contrary to previous theories that they arose in Asia, Africa or North America."}],[{"start":48.429,"text":"“Bats constantly surprise us,” said Sonja Vernes, a University of St Andrews professor and co-lead author of a paper on the research published in Nature on Wednesday. “They are one of evolution’s greatest experiments and this extraordinary genomic resource is finally allowing us to understand how their remarkable biology came about.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":67.64,"text":"The international research effort includes genomic data collected over decades from 103 species drawn from all 21 recognised bat families. The scientists melded this with information from 44 fossil bats to build a record of how the animal developed over time."}],[{"start":83.44,"text":"The evolutionary database should offer revelations as to why bats are so resilient, with some having lifespans much longer than would normally be expected for an animal their size."}],[{"start":93.92,"text":"Several bat species host viruses without obvious symptoms and show disease-fighting adaptations such as dampening inflammation and efficiently repairing DNA. This hardiness makes the creatures a leading threat for pandemic disease outbreaks, if pathogens they carry cross the species barrier into humans with deadly results."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":113.758,"text":"The latest research is a “tour de force in bat genomics” and will be “instrumental in providing the necessary tools for the future studies into bat biology and unique properties of disease resistance and longevity”, said Vera Gorbunova, a biology professor at the University of Rochester in the US."}],[{"start":131.058,"text":"The high-quality genomes would help give a “strong evolutionary framework for revealing how that biology arose”, said Aris Katzourakis, professor of evolution and genomics at the University of Oxford."}],[{"start":143.024,"text":"The study data on how mobile segments of DNA have moved around the bat’s genome over time may offer clues as to why some of the creatures have evolved tolerance to viral infections."}],[{"start":153.716,"text":"“In the case of bats, this likely involved different ways of controlling viral replication, mitigating the consequences of ageing, or maintaining the integrity of their genomes,” Katzourakis said. “Understanding these mechanisms could reveal new aspects of mammalian biology that are relevant to human disease.”"}],[{"start":173.16,"text":"The evolutionary database scientists concluded that bats likely originated in Europe around 65mn years ago. Early descendants of the first bats then dispersed into Africa and beyond, establishing a global reach that means they account today for about a fifth of all living mammal species."}],[{"start":191.21,"text":"The researchers placed an extinct bat known as Vielasia in the oldest branch of the animal’s family tree, casting light on the enigma of when the creatures first evolved one of their most distinctive attributes. Vielasia fossils have features including in the inner ear that suggest they were capable of the distinctive echolocation method used by many modern bats."}],[{"start":212.025,"text":"The study greatly improved understanding of bat evolution, although gaps remain in the fossil record from countries such as India and China, said Jacob Gardner, a researcher at the University of Reading’s School of Biological Sciences."}],[{"start":225.72,"text":"“Future discoveries of more complete bat fossils from these regions will help test the study’s claims of a European bat origin,” Gardner said."}],[{"start":236.68,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1790255548_5001.mp3"}