Bat DNA May Hold Clues to a Longer, Healthier Life

Bats may hold genetic clues to a long, healthy life, according to a new study of the bat genus Myotis, some of whose species live remarkably long for their size. Juan Manuel Vazquez, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher who began the work as a University of Chicago graduate student, led the first genomic analysis of eight Myotis species, published in the journal Nature. The team found lifespan strongly linked to immune function: longer-lived bats carried higher levels of genes tied to fighting cancer, and genes linked to aging overlapped with genes involved in defending against disease.

Vazquez and Berkeley undergraduates collected samples using mist nets over streams, ponds and rivers across the western United States, capturing bats for tissue biopsies before releasing them. Lifespans within the genus vary widely: Brandt's myotis (Myotis brandtii) can live for about half a century -- one individual was recaptured 50 years after being banded in Europe -- while the black Myotis (Myotis nigricans) of South and Central America lives only about seven years.

Vazquez also grew cells from bat wing biopsies -- he now maintains cultures from 259 bats across 32 species -- and exposed them to toxic chemicals. Cells from the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), the longest-lived bat in the sample, responded by switching on genes that trigger cell death rather than genes that repair DNA damage. Elephants, another long-lived, cancer-resistant species, use the same strategy when their cells are severely damaged.

Bats first appeared about 60 million years ago and now make up roughly 20% of mammal species, living on every continent except Antarctica. Their immune systems operate at unusually high levels, letting them carry persistent viral infections -- including viruses related to the one that causes COVID-19 -- without becoming sick. Researchers have proposed that this immune response may be connected to bats' intense nightly flights, which Vazquez compared to running several ultramarathons a day.