Myotis Bat Genomes Reveal Cell-Death Longevity Trick — SkimNews
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- UC Berkeley researchers published the first comparative analysis of eight Myotis bat genomes in Nature, finding that longer-lived species carry elevated levels of genes associated with fighting cancer.
- The little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), the longest-lived North American bat, responded to lethal chemical exposure by triggering cell death rather than activating DNA repair — a strategy researchers also documented in elephants.
- Lead author Juan Manuel Vazquez and collaborator Elise Lauterbur found significant overlap between longevity-associated genes and viral interaction genes, far exceeding what random chance would predict.
- Myotis bats possess an unusually large number of genes producing proteins that interact with DNA viruses like herpes, while humans and primates show enrichment for RNA virus interactions — an evolutionary mismatch that researchers say helps explain dangerous zoonotic spillovers.
- The Myotis genus spans dramatic lifespan differences: one Brandt's myotis was banded in Europe and recaptured 50 years later, while the closely related black Myotis of Central and South America lives only about 7 years.
- The study team, now including researchers at Penn State, UC Berkeley, the University of Vermont, the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, and the University of Arizona, maintains cell cultures from 259 individual bats across 32 species for continued investigation.
Why it matters: Researchers now have a concrete genomic roadmap — drawn from eight Myotis genomes — showing which genes bats use to suppress tumors and eliminate damaged cells. That same data exposes a stark mismatch: bats evolved defenses against DNA viruses, while humans evolved against RNA viruses, helping explain why bat-origin pathogens can devastate human populations.
Ask SkimNews
