BATS AND ITS EXTENDED LIFE SPAN

Taken from Nature

 BATS  AND THE FIGHT AGAINST  COVID-19

According to several ecologists, http://www.fao.org/3/a0789s03.html ,  animals that populated the Earth before humans, had a prolonged contact with viruses establishing between them an adaptation or peaceful coexistence thanks to adaptation of their genetic and immune systems. When in recent decades, humans began to ruthlessly predate and pollute nature and take the lives of thousands of animals, viruses adapted to them were forced to seek other bodily habitats to survive, leading to: 1) Terrifying pandemics in humans until they manage to adapt their genetic and immune systems to viruses, establishing an adaptation or peaceful coexistence with viruses, hoping that : 2) With the help of science we will understand the reason for being of the viruses and the characteristics of animal virus reservoirs. In this sense, initially orienting oneself  towards the study of the genomes of bats is an illuminating idea, since certain groups of viruses that cause great morbidity and mortality are housed in the Ferreungulata group of mammals, which includes: dogs, cats, seals , pangolins, bats, etc. An idea concretized in the formation of the Bat1K consortium https://bat1k.ucd.ie/, a global group of scientists, committed to sequencing the genomes of 1,421 species of bats, of which 6 have been precisely sequenced so far, thanks to the tenacious work of David Jebb (Center for Systems Biology Dresden/Max Planck Inst. for Cell Biology and Genetics), Emma Teeling (Biologist/University College Dublin), Sonja Vernes (Neurogenetics of Vocal Communication/Max Planck Institute), and others, who using the new technology DRESDEN-Concept Genome Center Max Planck Institute/Germany), https://dresden-concept.de/genome-center/?lang=en , sequenced the DNA of 6 species of bats, identifying their genes with accuracy (98%), in the correct order, with an unprecedented quality, showing for the first time, the encoded genetic material of bats,  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2486-3 , their unique adaptations: ability to fly, use sound to move effortlessly in the dark, survive and tolerate deadly diseases, extend their lifespan and resist cancer, being identified  genomic changes associated with unique adaptations, looking for genetic differences between bats and other mammals, genetic regions that evolved differently in bats, with loss or gain of genes, changes in auditory genes, to improve their echolocation, to hunt and navigate in the dark, antiviral gene expansions, immune gene selections and loss of inflammation genes, endowing bats with an exceptional immunity to tolerate viruses, apart from the finding of fossilized viruses in their genomes. An intense work,  in which Teely and collaborators took blood samples from bats at different stages of their lives by placing a chip on their legs, in search of vital biomarkers, performing various molecular tests finding that: 1) unlike most mammals where their telomeres shorten after each cell division, triggering the need to die by becoming senescent cells, which no longer replicate and attract healthy cells by aging them, the telomeres of bats do not shorten with age, when cells divide and they also do not have cancer, finding that 2 of their genes: TX and ATM, continue to evolve. 2)  compared to the mitochondrial theory that maintains that free radicals have the ability to destroy mitochondria, in bats, their mitochondria develop mechanisms that limit the deleterious effects of free radicals. 3) The sequencing of all blood transcriptomes revealed changes that keep their DNA current as they age, as well as an increase in their ability to repair their DNAs. 4) While in other mammals their microbiomes change for the worse, the bat microbiome does not change with age 5) Bats, present an active autophagy, capable of removing protein and cellular damage. 6) They maintain a balanced immune system, aimed at maintaining homeostasis, canceling the inflammation produced by their high metabolism, demonstrated by their high production of TNF and IL, solidifying the use in humans of anti-inflammatory drugs in Covid-19 disease, according to the stage of disease.