The pancreas regulates blood sugar level and appetite by producing hormones like insulin, which lowers your blood glucose, and glucagon, which raises your blood sugar. We found Jamaican fruit bats have more glucagon-producing and insulin-producing cells than big brown bats, along with regulative DNA that primes fruit bat pancreatic cells to start production of insulin and glucagon. Together these two hormonal agents work to keep blood glucose levels balanced even when the fruit bats are eating big quantities of sugar.
This flowchart lays out the authors research study method. Wei Gordon, created with BioRender.com/ Nature Communications, CC BY-ND
The kidney filters metabolic waste from the blood, keeps water and salt balance and regulates blood pressure. Fruit bat kidneys require to be equipped to remove from their bloodstreams the large quantities of water that come from fruit while keeping the low amounts of salt in fruit. We found Jamaican fruit bats have actually adjusted the compositions of their kidney cells in accordance with their diet plan, decreasing the number of urine-concentrating cells so their urine is more watered down with water compared with huge brown bats.
Authors Nadav Ahituv, left, and Wei Gordon. Wei Gordon, CC BY-ND
Fruit bats taking pleasure in a fruity reward. Credit: Pixabay.
In our freshly released research in Nature Communications, we and colleagues Seungbyn Baek and Martin Hemberg used a technology that examines the DNA of specific cells to compare the unique metabolic directions encoded in the genome of the Jamaican fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis, with those in the genome of the insect-eating big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus.
We are a team of biologists and bioengineers. Identifying how fruit bats progressed to specialize on a high-sugar diet sent us on a quest to method diabetes therapy from an unusual angle– one that sent all of us the way to Lamanai, Belize, for the Belize Bat-a-thon, an annual event where researchers gather and study bats.
Around 2% of DNA is made up of genes, which are sections of DNA that consist of the guidelines cells utilize to create specific characteristics, such as a longer tongue in fruit bats. The other 98% are sectors of DNA that manage genes and identify the existence and absence of the traits they encode.
Fruit bats do, too, eating up to two times their body weight in sugary fruit a day. Unlike people, fruit bats grow on a sugar-rich diet.
To comprehend how fruit bats evolved to consume so much sugar, we wished to determine the genetic and cellular distinctions between bats that consume fruit and bats that eat insects. Particularly, we took a look at the genes, regulative DNA and cell key ins 2 considerable organs involved in metabolic illness: the pancreas and the kidney.
People worldwide eat too much sugar. When the body is not able to process sugar successfully, resulting in excess glucose in the blood, this can result in diabetes. According to the World Health Organization, diabetes ended up being the ninth leading cause of death in 2019.
Why it matters
Diabetes is among the most costly persistent conditions in the world. The U.S. spent US$ 412.9 billion in 2022 on direct indirect costs and medical costs associated with diabetes.
Most approaches to establishing new treatments for diabetes are based upon standard laboratory animals such as mice because they are easy to reproduce and study in a lab. Outside the laboratory, there exist mammals like fruit bats that have really developed to withstand high sugar loads. Finding out how these mammals deal with high sugar loads can assist researchers identify brand-new approaches to deal with diabetes.
By applying brand-new cell characterization innovations on these nonmodel organisms, or organisms researchers dont typically use for research study in the laboratory, we and a growing body of scientists reveal that nature could be leveraged to develop unique treatment approaches for disease.
What still isnt understood
While our study revealed many prospective therapeutic targets for diabetes, more research requires to be done to show whether our fruit bat DNA sequences can assist understand, cure or handle diabetes in humans.
Our research study likewise focused only on bat pancreases and kidneys. Analyzing other organs involved in metabolic process, such as the liver and little intestinal tract, will help scientists more comprehensively comprehend fruit bat metabolic process and style suitable treatments.
Wei Gordon, Assistant Professor of Biology, Menlo College and Nadav Ahituv, Professor, Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences; Director, Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco
We found Jamaican fruit bats have more insulin-producing and glucagon-producing cells than huge brown bats, along with regulative DNA that primes fruit bat pancreatic cells to initiate production of insulin and glucagon. Fruit bat kidneys need to be equipped to eliminate from their bloodstreams the large quantities of water that come from fruit while maintaining the low quantities of salt in fruit. We found Jamaican fruit bats have changed the structures of their kidney cells in accordance with their diet, reducing the number of urine-concentrating cells so their urine is more diluted with water compared with big brown bats.
Some of our fruit bat findings may be unassociated to metabolism or are particular only to Jamaican fruit bats. Studying more bats will assist researchers clarify which fruit bat DNA series are pertinent for diabetes treatment.
We are doing this by switching the regulative DNA sequences in mice with those of fruit bats and testing their results on how well these mice manage their glucose levels.
This short article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Check out the initial post.
Whats next
A few of our fruit bat findings might be unrelated to metabolism or are specific just to Jamaican fruit bats. There are close to 200 species of fruit bats. Studying more bats will help researchers clarify which fruit bat DNA sequences are pertinent for diabetes treatment.
Our group is now checking the regulative DNA sequences that enable fruit bats to consume so much sugar and inspecting whether we can use them to much better manage how individuals react to glucose.
