澳大利亚联邦科工组织12月21日在美国《科学》杂志上发表一项研究报告称，对相对长寿和病毒抵抗力较强的蝙蝠的基因研究可能会为人类癌症和传染病的防治提供帮助。
这项研究是由澳大利亚、中国、丹麦、美国和新加坡的研究人员合作进行的。研究人员对蝙蝠的抗病毒能力和寿命等进行了深入研究，他们把澳大利亚黑狐蝠（一种澳洲大型蝙蝠）和大卫鼠耳蝠（一种中国特有的微型蝙蝠）的基因组与包括人类在内的其他8种哺乳动物的基因组进行对比，寻找其中的异同。
“蝙蝠是诸如亨德拉病毒、埃博拉病毒等致命病毒的天然携带者，但是它们对这些病毒表现出了极强的抵抗力。它们也是唯一能够飞行的哺乳动物，并且就体型而言，它们的寿命比同类动物更长，”联邦科工组织动物健康实验室的研究员克里斯·考尔德指出，“因此，对于蝙蝠基因进化适应性的深入理解，将有助于人类疾病的防治研究。”(生物谷Bioon.com)
DOI: 10.1126/science.1230835
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Comparative Analysis of Bat Genomes Provides Insight into the Evolution of Flight and Immunity
Guojie Zhang1,2,*,†, Christopher Cowled3,*, Zhengli Shi4,*, Zhiyong Huang1,*, Kimberly A. Bishop-Lilly5,*,Xiaodong Fang1, James W. Wynne3, Zhiqiang Xiong1, Michelle L. Baker3, Wei Zhao1, Mary Tachedjian3,Yabing Zhu1, Peng Zhou3,4, Xuanting Jiang1, Justin Ng3, Lan Yang1, Lijun Wu4, Jin Xiao1, Yue Feng1,Yuanxin Chen1, Xiaoqing Sun1, Yong Zhang1, Glenn A. Marsh3, Gary Crameri3, Christopher C. Broder6,Kenneth G. Frey5, Lin-Fa Wang3,7,†, Jun Wang1,8,9,†
Bats are the only mammals capable of sustained flight and are notorious reservoir hosts for some of the world’s most highly pathogenic viruses, including Nipah, Hendra, Ebola, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). To identify genetic changes associated with the development of bat-specific traits, we performed whole-genome sequencing and comparative analyses of two distantly related bat species, fruit batPteropus alecto and insectivorous Myotis davidii. We discovered an unexpected concentration of positively selected genes in the DNA damage checkpoint and nuclear factor–κB pathways that may be related to the origin of flight, as well as expansion and contraction of important gene families. Comparison of bat genomes with other mammalian species has provided new insights into bat biology and evolution.
