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Saving Malaysia's Fruit Bats Research Group Led by Former BCI Student Scholar Promotes Education and Coexistence

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Saving Malaysia's Fruit Bats Research Group Led by Former BCI Student Scholar Promotes Education and Coexistence JOIN US FOR OCTOBER 24-31, 2020 ISSUE 3 • 2020 BAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL BATCON.ORG Saving Malaysia's Fruit Bats Research group led by former BCI student scholar promotes education and coexistence INSIDE 06 Fish-eating Myotis 14 Leaps in Bat Genomics 25 Backyard "Bativists" ISSUE 3 • 2020 Inside this Issue 14 FEATURES 08 SAVING MALAYSIA'S FRUIT BATS Research group led by former BCI student scholar promotes education and coexistence 14 OUT OF THE DARKNESS Big leaps in genomics illuminate the animals' most closely held biological secrets DEPARTMENTS 02 OFF THE BAT Mike Daulton, BCI executive director, explains why the future needs us all 06 SPECIES STUDY A look at the Myotis vivesi 24 BAT CHAT Dr. Liliana Dávalos 25 BAT SQUAD Backyard "bativists" Read back issues of Pale spear-nosed bat Bats Magazine at batcon.org/ (Phyllostomus discolor) batsmag. Photo: Jose Gabriel Martinez Fonseca 03 BAT SIGNALS 18 FIELD NOTES BCI news and Research news from conservation updates around the globe > Apply for a BCI student > Ultrasonic recorders research scholarship help researchers > BCI named Evidence detect bats remotely UPDATES Champion Photos from our & > > Virtual Bat Week bat-loving readers > North American Society ON THE COVER for Bat Research turns 50 Protecting Malaysia's bats by providing education to NEWS 04 farmers and tourists. Photo: Dr. Winifred Frick Photo: Sanjitpaal Singh / Jitspics.com batcon.org / bats 1 Feature: Bat Genomics Darkness Big leaps in bat genomics illuminate the animals’ most closely held biological secrets By Christie Wilcox n 1990, an international group of geneticists unprecedented comparisons between species with began what was, at the time, an astonishingly different abilities or ecological roles, which, in turn, Ichallenging endeavor. Their goal: to sequence would help researchers unravel the mysteries of the human genome, all 3 billion base pairs. It took bat evolution, including how they took to the skies. dozens of researchers from 20 institutions in six The ultimate goal, though, reaches far beyond countries longer than a decade and cost more than illuminating bat biology. “Both humans and bats $2.5 billion, but they ultimately succeeded. In the are mammals, and that means that we also have ensuing years, genomes for other animals have fol- something in common in terms of our overall lowed. Most are still incomplete, but researchers physiology,” explains Dr. Sharlene Santana, an have unveiled six complete bat genomes. evolutionary biologist with the University of Published in Nature in July, the six complete bat Washington and the curator of mammals at the genomes are the first to come from the ambi- Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in tious Bat1K global genome consortium, which Seattle. “So, understanding how bats’ physiology aims to sequence the genome of every single bat works may eventually help us understand how we, species. Achieving this lofty goal would allow ourselves, might fight disease or live longer.” 14 bats / Issue 3 • 2020 Darkness Unprecedented insights sequences can help scientists figure out how spe- Before this new batch, genomes from a little cies split into the ones alive today. It can also tell more than 125 of the roughly 6,500 species of us how those splits occurred by revealing what mammals had been constructed. Only 13 of those genes changed the most or the least—signatures were bats, even though the Chiroptera account for of strong evolutionary selection. about one-fifth of all mammals. Such comparative analyses will provide “Bats represent a large amount of the diversity researchers novel insights into the origins of of mammals,” Dr. Santana says. “So, just under- quintessential bat traits like echolocation and standing the diversity, not only their external flight. But even more so, Dr. Frank says, “we hope features but also their genomes, that tells us a lot that, by looking at their immune systems and about how they became survivors.” looking in their genomes, we will perhaps see how “Genomics is really powerful,” says Dr. Hannah they're tolerating or fighting disease, and then Frank, an evolutionary ecologist with Tulane Uni- maybe apply some of that to ourselves.” versity. Because all living things can trace back Even before the new set, previous bat genomes Photo: Stephen Dalton/Minden Pictures to a single common ancestor, comparing genome had deepened our understanding of immunology, batcon.org / bats 15 Feature: Bat Genomics says Dr. Stephanie Pavlovich, a clinical researcher and medical Size matters resident at the University of North Carolina School of Medi- The researchers refer to their genomes as “reference-quality” cine. For her Ph.D., she helped construct a draft genome of the because they’re much more complete than the previous bat Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus)—a species known genomes—in many cases, by orders of magnitude. But obtain- to harbor the deadly Marburg virus without showing signs of ing the six incredibly complete illness. That genome revealed that the animals have a much genomes was no simple feat. larger number of type one interferon genes—proteins essential Though genome sequencing has for the body’s initial attack on invading viruses—than we do. become a lot cheaper and faster Learn more: The discovery meant researchers could now perform the kind of in the 30 years since the Human Bat1K.ucd.ie experiments that tease out what role each of those genes plays Genome Project began, putting in the bat’s immune system. together a high-quality genome remains a challenge. There are “ Understanding how “Having more genomic informa- trade-offs to consider when it comes to your method of sequenc- bats’ physiology works tion is always helpful in terms ing, explains Dr. Frank. may eventually help of asking the right evolutionary When you chop the DNA up into smaller pieces, the sequences questions,” she says. are more accurate, but they’re harder to piece together—hard us understand how we, The new genomes not only enough that genes or even sections of chromosomes can get left out ourselves, might fight expand the number of species on accident. Longer strings give you a better sense of the overall disease or live longer.” we can mine for similar insights, architecture of the genome, but they’re also more prone to error. — Dr. Sharlene Santana but they also provide richer data The “big breakthrough” for the Bat1K team was using both, on previous species genomes says Dr. Liliana Dávalos, an evolutionary biologist with Stony that can be used to deepen our Brook University, BCI science advisory committee member, and understanding of previous discoveries. “There are always genes one of the researchers involved in constructing the six genomes. that you've missed, spaces that you need to go back and fill in with By combining multiple technologies, especially newer ones that additional sequencing,” Dr. Pavlovich says. She is hopeful the new, sequence longer strings of DNA, they ensured the genome was more complete Egyptian fruit bat genome, one of the six, can help both accurate and complete. fill in some of the blanks her team may have missed. And looking “The only genomes that are better, in terms of completeness, forward, she says having these diverse genomes—which represent than the bat genomes in the paper, are actually the ones from both of the major lineages of bats, as well as bats with different mouse and human,” Dr. Dávalos says. And because they’re so geographic ranges, traits, and ecological roles—will help improve accurate, they will allow scientists to do something really new: the process of sequencing genomes for other species. to learn more about ourselves. The 6 Sequenced Species Greater horseshoe bat Egyptian fruit bat Pale spear-nosed bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) (Rousettus aegyptiacus) (Phyllostomus discolor) Range: Northern Africa, Europe, Range: Parts of Africa and the Range: South America into and Eastern and Central Asia Middle East Central America Family: Rhinolophidae Family: Pteropodidae Family: Phyllostomidae Echolocation: Yes Echolocation: No (uses tongue clicks) Echolocation: Yes Diet: Insectivore, especially moths Diet: Frugivore Diet: Omnivore Previously sequenced? No Previously sequenced? Yes Previously sequenced? No Photos by Yushi & Keiko Osawa; Steve Gettle/MindenJose Pictures; Gabriel Martinez Fonseca 16 bats / Issue 3 • 2020 “ We hope that, by looking Which Came First: Echolocation or Fruit Bats? at [bats’] immune Apart from flight, perhaps the most impressive bat feature is their ability to “see” with systems and looking in sound by using echolocation. But fruit bats in the family Pteropodidae (flying foxes) lack their genomes, we will this sonic superpower, and that sets up two possible scenarios for the trait’s evolution: either it arose separately in the close cousins of these fruit bats and all other bats, or perhaps see how they’re the ancestor of all bats could echolocate, and these fruit bats lost the ability. “This has tolerating or fighting been a long-standing question in bat biology,” explains Dr. Santana—one that these six disease, and then maybe genomes may have finally answered. apply some of that to Comparing physical features and genetic ones has yielded different answers in the past, Dr. Santana explains, but the six highly complete genomes were able to provide ourselves.” clearer insights. Instead of having to zero in on known genes and compare them between — Dr. Hannah Frank species, the Bat1K team was able to compare whole genomes and look for areas that differ between the various bats. That allowed them to uncover mutations present only in echolocating bats, including a tiny duplication in part of a hearing-related gene that no Bats are sometimes known for one had noticed before. their ability to survive and not even Since these genetic features were identical in all echolocating bats—including in seem ill when infected with viruses previously published genomes—they concluded that two independent origins for echolo- that are lethal in humans.
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