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Bats are increasingly studied as model systems for longevity and as natural hosts for some virulent viruses. Yet the ability to characterize immune mechanisms of viral tolerance and to quantify infection dynamics in wild bats is often limited by small sample volumes and few species-specific reagents. Here, we demonstrate how proteomics can overcome these limitations by using data-independent acquisition-based shotgun proteomics to survey the serum proteome of 17 vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) from Belize. Using just 2 μL of sample and relatively short separations of undepleted serum digests, we identified 361 proteins across 5 orders of magnitude. Levels of immunological proteins in vampire bat serum were then compared to human plasma via published databases. Of particular interest were antiviral and antibacterial components, circulating 20S proteasome complex and proteins involved in redox activity. Lastly, we used known virus proteomes to putatively identify Rh186 from Macacine herpesvirus 3and ORF1a from Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus, indicating that mass spectrometry-based techniques show promise for pathogen detection. Overall, these results can be used to design targeted mass-spectrometry assays to quantify immunological markers and detect pathogens. More broadly, our findings also highlight the application of proteomics in advancing wildlife immunology and pathogen surveillance.

The article focuses on the anatomy of flight and echolocation, sightless navigation, in bats, and uses fossil records to trace and describe their evolution. The author describes how mapping the distribution of certain traits in bat fossils is used to test hypotheses about which evolved first, flight or echolocation. She also explains some of the mysteries that remain, including the lack of fossil records for the earliest bats and their place within the lineage known as Laurasiatheria.

Die lange Kontroverse, ob in der Evolution der Fledermäuse das Fliegen am Anfang stand oder die Echoortung mit für uns unhörbarem Ultraschall oder ob sich beide simultan entwickelten, wurde aufgrund eines neuen Fundes – Onychonycteris finneyi – zugunsten der “Flight first”Hypothese entschieden. Noch im Gestein verborgene Details der Bezahnung, des Flugapparates und der Innenohren werden in Fortführung des Forschungsvorhabens mit speziellen mikrotomografischen Verfahren untersucht und mit denen fossiler und rezenter Fledermäuse verglichen.

A tendon locking mechanism (TLM) in the digits of the feet has been described previously only in bats and birds. In bats, this mechanism typically consists of a patch of tuberculated fibrocartilage cells on the plantar surface of the proximal flexor tendons, and a corresponding plicated portion of the adjacent flexor tendon sheath. The two components mesh together like parts of a ratchet, locking the digit in a flexed position until the mechanism is disengaged. This system apparently allows bats to hang for long periods of time with reduced muscular activity. In this study, we document for the first time the presence of a similar tendon lock in dermopterans, an occurrence that provides additional support for the hypothesis that dermopterans and bats are sister taxa. The present work also includes observations on the morphology of the digital tendon system in chiropteran species not previously examined, including members of the Craseonycteridae, Mystacinidae and Kerivoulinae. Unlike other bats that have a TLM,Craseonycteris andKerivoula have a plicated proximal tendon sheath but lack distinct tubercles on the flexor tendon. This condition may be related to small body size or may represent an evolutionary intermediate between the presence of a well-developed TLM and the complete absence of this structure. Phyllostomids apparently lack the ratchet-like TLM typical of other bats, instead exhibiting modifications of the tendon sheath that may contribute to its function as a friction lock. Consideration of the distribution of TLM structures in the context of previous phylogenetic hypotheses suggests that a ratchet-type tendon lock was lost and reexpressed at least once and perhaps several times within Microchiroptera. The friction lock is an autapomorphy of Phyllostomidae.

Despite being nearly 10 months into the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, the definitive animal host for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the causal agent of COVID-19, remains unknown. Unfortunately, similar problems exist for other betacoronaviruses, and no vouchered specimens exist to corroborate host species identification for most of these pathogens.

Connecting basic data about bats and other potential hosts of SARS-CoV-2 with their ecological context is crucial to the understanding of the emergence and spread of the virus. However, when lockdowns in many countries started in March, 2020, the world's bat experts were locked out of their research laboratories, which in turn impeded access to large volumes of offline ecological and taxonomic data. Pandemic lockdowns have brought to attention the long-standing problem of so-called biological dark data: data that are published, but disconnected from digital knowledge resources and thus unavailable for high-throughput analysis. Knowledge of host-to-virus ecological interactions will be biased until this challenge is addressed. In this Viewpoint, we outline two viable solutions: first, in the short term, to interconnect published data about host organisms, viruses, and other pathogens; and second, to shift the publishing framework beyond unstructured text (the so-called PDF prison) to labelled networks of digital knowledge. As the indexing system for biodiversity data, biological taxonomy is foundational to both solutions. Building digitally connected knowledge graphs of host–pathogen interactions will establish the agility needed to quickly identify reservoir hosts of novel zoonoses, allow for more robust predictions of emergence, and thereby strengthen human and planetary health systems.

The article illustrates the morphological diversity of modern bats and notes some of the conclusions gleaned from bat fossils found in Messel, Germany. The author describes several types of bats and some of their differences including body size, wing size and tooth shape. Conclusions about bat traits and diet are illustrated with examples from bat fossils.

The earliest record of plant visiting in bats dates to the Middle Miocene of La Venta, the world's most diverse tropical palaeocommunity. Palynephyllum antimasteris known from molars that indicate nectarivory. Skull length, an important indicator of key traits such as body size, bite force and trophic specialization, remains unknown. We developed Bayesian models to infer skull length based on dental measurements. These models account for variation within and between species, variation between clades, and phylogenetic error structure. Models relating skull length to trophic level for nectarivorous bats were then used to infer the diet of the fossil. The skull length estimate for Palynephyllumplaces it among the larger lonchophylline bats. The inferred diet suggests Palynephyllumfed on nectar and insects, similar to its living relatives. Omnivory has persisted since the mid-Miocene. This is the first study to corroborate with fossil data that highly specialized nectarivory in bats requires an omnivorous transition.

Whereas it is generally agreed that the Neotropical bat family Mormoopidae is aligned within the superfamily Noctilionoidea, interfamilial relationships within Noctilionoidea and intrafamilial relationships within Mormoopidae have been debated. DNA sequence data have been generated from a few representatives of Mormoopidae to address interfamilial relationships within Chiroptera, but no such study has focused on relationships within Mormoopidae. Our purpose was to test noctilionoid interfamilial and mormoopid intrafamilial relationships by using a combination of DNA sequence (mitochondrial 12S rRNA, tRNAVal, 16S rRNA) and morphologic data. Parsimony analysis of the DNA sequence data and the combined molecular and morphologic data strongly support: monophyly of Mormoopidae, Mormoops, Pteronotus, and the subgenus Pteronotus; a sister-taxon relationship between Phyllostomidae and Mormoopidae; and Mystacinidae as sister to the Phyllostomidae and Mormoopidae clade. Although resolution and strong support was provided by this study for several noctilionoid and mormoopid clades, relationships within Pteronotus remain somewhat unclear as monophyly of the subgenus Chilonycertis was weakly supported.