Since bats are rodents with wings, this chemical clue as to why
bats beat out mice in the aging game should point scientists to the
source of this elusive fountain."
Actually, the family Chiroptera is more closely related to the family
Primates than to the family Rodentia (see the Tree of Life web
project, http://tolweb.org/Eutheria/15997). So the next time someone
tells you that bats are rats with wings, tell them this little-known
fact--they're closer to humans than to rats on the evolutionary tree.
So instead of using lab rats for medical studies, we should be using
lab bats?
Diana
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Minton, Mark" <mmin...@nmhu.edu>
Date: July 2, 2009 8:47:46 AM CDT
To: nmcaver <nmca...@caver.net>, txcaver
<texascavers@texascavers.com>, gvks
<gvkarstsur...@googlegroups.com>, "cvillegro...@yahoogroups.com" <cvillegro...@yahoogroups.com
>
Subject: [Texascavers] Bats' Fountain of Youth
Bats may hold the key to longer life. <http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR~PUBCODE~014~ACCT~1400000101~ISSUE~0907~RELTYPE~LST~PRODCODE~00000000~PRODLETT~K.html
>
Mark Minton
Do bats hold the "Fountain the Youth"?
July 1, 2009
Scientists from Texas are batty over a new discovery which could
lead to the single most important medical breakthrough in human
history—significantly longer lifespans. The discovery, featured on
the cover of the July 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal shows
that proper protein folding over time in long-lived bats explains
why they live significantly longer than other mammals of comparable
size, such as mice.
"Ultimately we are trying to discover what underlying mechanisms
allow for some animal species to live a very long time with the hope
that we might be able to develop therapies that allow people to age
more slowly," said Asish Chaudhuri, Professor of Biochemistry, VA
Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas and the senior researcher
involved in the work.
Asish and colleagues made their discovery by extracting proteins
from the livers of two long-lived bat species (Tadarida brasiliensis
and Myotis velifer) and young adult mice and exposed them to
chemicals known to cause protein misfolding. After examining the
proteins, the scientists found that the bat proteins exhibited less
damage than those of the mice, indicating that bats have a mechanism
for maintaining proper structure under extreme stress.
"Maybe Juan Ponce De León wasn't too far off the mark when he
searched Florida for the Fountain of Youth," said Gerald Weissmann,
M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "As it turns out, one of
these bat species lives out its long life in Florida. Since bats are
rodents with wings, this chemical clue as to why bats beat out mice
in the aging game should point scientists to the source of this
elusive fountain."
Study Abstract <http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/7/2317>
SOURCE: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Diana R. Tomchick
Associate Professor
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Department of Biochemistry
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Rm. ND10.214B
Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A.
Email: diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu
214-645-6383 (phone)
214-645-6353 (fax)
