Bats are the only mammals (哺乳类动物) that can fly a great distance, but they have another ability. Many bats live a very long time for an animal of their size.
European researchers are studying bats to understand why they live so long. They hope to find ways to fight the aging process (过程) in human beings.
Last week, the group of scientists said they had found important biological (生物学) qualities in bat species (种类). The group studied bat chromosomes (染色体)—a line of genes found in the nucleus (核) of cells. The scientists were very interested in the ends of the chromosomes. They are called telomeres (端粒). Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes, which shorten each time a cell divides. Scientists believe this shortening process causes cells to break down.
This month, a report on bats was published in the journal Science Advances.
One of the leaders of the study was Emma Teeling, a biologist in Ireland. Teeling said studying long-living mammals is another way to prove the molecular (分子) basis of continued “health length.” She added that studying bats made scientists learn more about the processes "that drive healthy aging."
The European researchers studied 493 bats from four bat species. They used information that had been collected over 60 years. Of these bats, the greater mouse-eared bat generally lived the longest, an average of 37 years.
The scientists said this and a connected species, named Myotis, had telomeres that did not shorten with age. Another Myotis bat holds the record for oldest age, reaching 41 years.
The scientists' findings suggest that these bats' cells have the ability to keep and repair their telomeres. This, they said, helps guard against the aging process. Based on its body size, a bat like the greater mouse-eared bat would be expected to live four years. But, these mammals are found to live nearly 10 times longer than that.
The scientists found that eighteen of these are bats except an unusual African rat.
