Founders Lecture

Bats are extraordinary amongst mammals, having uniquely evolved, true-self powered flight, advanced laryngeal echolocation, coupled with extended healthspans, disease resistance, and the ability to hibernate. However, reconstructing the evolutionary history of this order and their unique adaptations has been difficult, stemming from a lack of fossil, morphological and molecular data, and the resulting conflicting phylogenies. 

To address these problems Bat1K has generated over 103 reference quality bat genomes and used state-of-art phylogenomics to reveal a novel and robust phylogenomic tree that includes all 21 currently recognised families of bats. New morphological and fossil data sets were integrated with genomic data, to ascertain the fossil placement, timing of divergence, and biogeographic origin of key bat lineages using novel Fossilized Birth Models and Dispersal-Extinction-Cladogenesis (DEC) models. 

These new genomes were then used to explore the molecular basis and evolution of two unique bat adaptations: extended longevity and disease resistance. Bats are the longest-lived mammals relative to their body size, with the oldest bat caught being >41 years old, living approx. 8 times longer than expected, showing little to no signs of ageing. They have also been shown to live with many pathogens without showing overt signs of illness. Here, the potential genomic basis for their rare immunity and exceptional longevity is explored across multiple bat genomes and divergent ageing and immune related markers studied in wild bat populations. These findings provide a new insight into bat evolutionary history and a deeper understanding of the causal mechanisms of ageing and tolerant immunity, potentially uncovering the key molecular pathways that could be utilised to benefit society.