Fruit bats endure and even thrive by consuming up to two times their body weight in sugary fruit every day.Now, UC San Francisco researchers have found how fruit bats may have developed to consume so much sugar, with prospective ramifications for the 37 million Americans with diabetes. Scientists at UC San Francisco have uncovered evolutionary adaptations in fruit bats that permit them to grow on a high-sugar diet, supplying prospective insights for diabetes treatment in humans.Ahituvs group focused on advancement in the bat pancreas, which controls blood sugar, and the kidneys. Its back to the roost.To comprehend how a fruit bat pulls off this feat of sugar usage, Ahituv and Gordon worked together with scientists from a variety of institutions, varying from Yonsei University in Korea to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, to compare the Jamaican fruit bat to the huge brown bat, which just eats insects.The scientists analyzed gene expression (which genes were on or off) and regulative DNA (the parts of DNA that manage gene expression) using a technique for determining both in private cells.”While some of the biology of the fruit bat resembled whats found in humans with diabetes, the fruit bat appeared to evolve something that people with a sweet tooth could only dream of: a sweet tooth without consequences. One of the Jamaican fruit bats caught at this event was used in the sugar metabolism study.As one of the most diverse households of mammals, bats include many examples of evolutionary victory, from their immune systems to their peculiar diets and beyond.
UC San Francisco researchers have actually discovered how fruit bats can take in big quantities of sweet fruit without adverse health impacts, providing insights for diabetes research. Their study exposes that fruit bats have developed specific physiological adaptations in their pancreas and kidneys, making it possible for efficient sugar processing and electrolyte retention. This research study might offer valuable understanding for establishing new treatments for the countless Americans with diabetes.A brand-new research study exposes how fruit bats distinct physiology allows a healthy high-sugar diet, offering insights for human diabetes research.A high-sugar diet is bad news for people, resulting in diabetes, obesity, and even cancer. Fruit bats make it through and even flourish by consuming up to twice their body weight in sweet fruit every day.Now, UC San Francisco scientists have found how fruit bats might have evolved to take in so much sugar, with prospective ramifications for the 37 million Americans with diabetes. The findings, published today (January 9, 2024) in Nature Communications, point to adjustments in the fruit bat body that prevent their sugar-rich diet plan from becoming harmful.Diabetes is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and its responsible for $237 billion in direct medical costs each year.Understanding Fruit Bats Unique Physiology”With diabetes, the body cant produce or discover insulin, causing problems managing blood glucose,” said Nadav Ahituv, PhD, director of the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics and co-senior author of the paper. “But fruit bats have a hereditary system that manages blood sugar level without fail. We d like to find out from that system to make better insulin- or sugar-sensing therapies for individuals.” Scientists at UC San Francisco have actually revealed evolutionary adaptations in fruit bats that enable them to grow on a high-sugar diet plan, providing prospective insights for diabetes treatment in humans.Ahituvs team focused on evolution in the bat pancreas, which controls blood glucose, and the kidneys. They found that the fruit bat pancreas, compared to the pancreas of an insect-eating bat, had additional insulin-producing cells as well as hereditary modifications to assist it process an immense quantity of sugar. And fruit bat kidneys had actually adjusted to guarantee that essential electrolytes would be kept from their watery meals.”Even little modifications, to single letters of DNA, make this diet feasible for fruit bats,” stated Wei Gordon, PhD, co-first author of the paper, a recent graduate of UCSFs TETRAD program, and assistant teacher of biology at Menlo College. “We need to comprehend high-sugar metabolic process like this to make progress helping the one in three Americans who are prediabetic.”A Sweet Tooth Without ConsequencesEach day, after 20 hours of sleep, fruit bats get up for four hours to gorge on fruit. Then its back to the roost.To comprehend how a fruit bat manages this accomplishment of sugar consumption, Ahituv and Gordon worked together with researchers from a variety of institutions, varying from Yonsei University in Korea to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, to compare the Jamaican fruit bat to the big brown bat, which only eats insects.The researchers evaluated gene expression (which genes were on or off) and regulative DNA (the parts of DNA that manage gene expression) utilizing an approach for measuring both in individual cells.”This newer single-cell technology can discuss not just which types of cells remain in which organs, however likewise how those cells regulate gene expression to manage each diet,” Ahituv said.In fruit bats, the structures of the pancreas and kidneys progressed to accommodate their diet. The pancreas had more cells to produce insulin, which tells the body to lower blood sugar, along with more cells to produce glucagon, the other significant sugar-regulating hormone. The fruit bat kidneys, on the other hand, had more cells to trap scarce salts as they filter blood.Zooming in, the regulatory DNA in those cells had actually developed to turn the proper genes for fruit metabolic process on or off. The big brown bat, on the other hand, had more cells for breaking down protein and conserving water. And the gene expression in those cells was tuned to handle a diet of bugs.”The company of the DNA around the insulin and glucagon genes was really plainly various in between the two bat species,” Gordon stated. “The DNA around genes utilized to be thought about scrap, but our information reveals that this regulative DNA likely assists fruit bats react to unexpected increases or decreases in blood sugar.”While a few of the biology of the fruit bat resembled whats discovered in humans with diabetes, the fruit bat appeared to evolve something that human beings with a sweet tooth might just dream of: a sweet tooth without consequences.”Its impressive to step back from model organisms, like the lab mouse, and find possible solutions for human health crises out in nature,” Gordon stated. “Bats have figured it out, and its all in their DNA, the outcome of natural selection.”Superheroes of EvolutionThe research study benefited from a current groundswell of interest in studying bats to better human health. Gordon and Ahituv traveled to Belize to take part in an annual Bat-a-Thon with almost 50 other bat scientists, taking a census of wild bats along with field samples for science. Among the Jamaican fruit bats captured at this occasion was used in the sugar metabolism study.As one of the most varied households of mammals, bats consist of many examples of evolutionary triumph, from their immune systems to their peculiar diet plans and beyond.”For me, bats resemble superheroes, each one with a fantastic superpower, whether it is echolocation, flying, blood-sucking without coagulation, or consuming fruit and not getting diabetes,” Ahituv stated. “This type of work is simply the beginning.”Reference: “Integrative single-cell characterization of a frugivorous and an insectivorous bat kidney and pancreas” by Wei E. Gordon, Seungbyn Baek, Hai P. Nguyen, Yien-Ming Kuo, Rachael Bradley, Sarah L. Fong, Nayeon Kim, Alex Galazyuk, Insuk Lee, Melissa R. Ingala, Nancy B. Simmons, Tony Schountz, Lisa Noelle Cooper, Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares, Martin Hemberg and Nadav Ahituv, 9 January 2024, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-023-44186-yKey collaborators included co-first author Seungbyn Baek, PhD, from Yonsei University (South Korea); co-senior author Martin Hemberg, PhD, from Harvard Medical School; Tony Schountz, PhD, from Colorado State University; Lisa Noelle Cooper, PhD, from Northeast Ohio Medical University; Melissa R. Ingala, PhD, Fairleigh Dickinson University; and Nancy B. Simmons, PhD, American Museum of Natural History. Other UCSF authors are Hai P. Nguyen, PhD, Yien-Ming Kuo, PhD, Rachael Bradley, and Sarah L. Fong, PhD. For all authors see the paper.