📢Have you ever wondered how 🦇 manage to do what they do? #bats have extraordinary adaptations, including powered #flight, laryngeal #echolocation, #vocal #learning and an exceptional #longevity with unique #immunity and resistance to #cancer! 📸: @DanielWhitby5 (2/n) 
A #Bat1K team led by @Sonja_Vernes @EmmaTeeling1 @hillermich @TheGeneMyers has just published the raw genetic material that codes for these unique 🦇 adaptations and #superpowers in @nature! #bats #genomics #cool! (3/n)
A big international team made this possible: @jebb_david @ZixiaH @m_pippel, @GrahamMHughes, Ksenia Lavrichenko, @DevannaPaolo, Sylke Winkler, Lars Jermiin, @ESkirmuntt @ArisKatzourakis Lucy Burkitt-Gray @RayLabTTU Kevin Sullivan, @juroscito, Bogdan Kirilenko, Roger Ransom (4.1/n)
@DinaDechmann @ilCipi @Bats_Chiroptera @ofedrigo @erichjarvis @JonesLabBris @LabDavalos @aspcorthals @MeganPower101 This groundbreaking work would not have been possible without them and the help of many more ☺️🦇(4.2/n)
To discover the #molecular basis and #evolution of #bats unique traits, #Bat1K incorporated long-read #sequencing and #scaffolding protocols to generate reference-quality genomes of 6 bat species. @PacBio @bionanogenomics @illumina (5/n)
#Bat1K sequenced the genomes of 6 highly divergent 🦇 species! 1) Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, 2) Rousettus aegyptiacus, 3) Phyllostomus discolor, 4) Myotis myotis, 5) Pipistrellus kuhlii and 6) Molossus molossus. 📸of Phyllostomus discolor, pale spear-nosed bat 📸: B. & S. Fenton
“Using the latest DNA sequencing technologies and new computing methods for such data, we
have 96-99% of each bat genome in chromosome level reconstructions" says @TheGeneMyers @maxplanckpress @mpicbg @tudresden_de @csbdresden (7/n)
have 96-99% of each bat genome in chromosome level reconstructions" says @TheGeneMyers @maxplanckpress @mpicbg @tudresden_de @csbdresden (7/n)
@TheGeneMyers: “That is an unprecedented quality akin to for example the current human genome reference which is the result of over a decade of intensive “finishing” efforts.” 🔬🦇🧬 (8/n)
And here are our highly contiguous assemblies! #Bat1K #assemblies (in colour lines) are really good! 🤫😍🦇🧬 (10/n)
Compared to previous bat #genomes, #Bat1K #assemblies (solid lines) are 🔥! -Have a look at our extended data figure (1d) at nature.com/articles/s4158… for more information (11/n)
In order to generate highly complete #gene annotations, #Bat1K integrated gene projections from the @hillermich Tool to Infer #Orthologs from #Genome Alignments (#TOGA) software, with de novo and homology gene predictions and short- and long-read #transcriptomics. (13/n)
In c) you can see how we annotated our #bat #genomes @jebb_david @hillermich @maxplanckpress @mpicbg @tudresden_de @csbdresden (14/n)
d) shows you a comparison of genome #annotation completeness.🧬🔥 Our assemblies and annotations are highly complete in #protein-coding #sequences @jebb_david @hillermich (15/n)
Who are the closest living relatives of bats? To answer this centuries-old question, #Bat1K compared #bat #genomes to those of 42 other mammals! Here’s the #phylogenetic analysis of #Laurasiatheria @EmmaTeeling1 (16/n)
The authors of the @nature paper resolve #bats as the sister to #Ferreuungulata, a group that consists of #carnivores, #pangolins, #whales #seals and hooved #mammals. BTW did you already see the full evolutionary tree of life as a fractal? 🌳🦇🧬
onezoom.org/life/@Laurasia… (17/n)
onezoom.org/life/@Laurasia… (17/n)
What makes 🦇 special? A special immune system allows 🦇 to better tolerate #viruses that are lethal to other #mammals, you can also read: theconversation.com/bats-are-hosts… (18/n)
The exquisite genomes revealed “fossilised #viruses”, evidence of surviving past viral #infections, and showed that bat genomes contained a higher diversity than other #species providing a #genomic record of historical tolerance to viral infection. (19/n)
WRT #bats #immunity and survival of #viral #infections: #Bat1K genome-wide screens revealed selection and losses of immune-related and pro-inflammatory genes, highlighting changes in the NFkB pathway! (20.1/n)
@Sonja_Vernes says: Using these amazing #bat #genomes, we were able to document the landscapes of noncoding RNA genes and identify regulatory regions that control gene expression that are unique to #bats @Sonja_Vernes @DevannaPaolo @EmmaTeeling1 @ZixiaH K. Lavrichenko(22.1/n)
“We were able to validate unique 🦇 #microRNAs in the lab to show their consequences for gene regulation. In the future we can use these genomes to understand how regulatory regions and epigenomics contributed to the extraordinary adaptations we see in 🦇.” @Sonja_Vernes (22.2/n)
Fig 4c) Our team went into the lab 🔬👀 and tested the real world consequences of #bat specific changes in miR-337 - human and bat miR-337 show very different regulatory abilities! (24/n)
We also found novel mRNAs that are only found in bats, and showed in the lab that they are functional and able to regulate gene expression - showing innovation in regulation in the bat lineage (25/n)
“This is just a beginning. The remaining ~1400 living bat species exhibit an incredible diversity in ecology, longevity, sensory perception and immunology, and numerous questions still remain" @EmmaTeeling1 📸: @DanielWhitby5 (26/n)
#Bat1K genomes will answer these questions as more and more exquisite bat genomes are sequenced, further uncovering the genetic basis of bats’ rare and wonderful superpowers.” So stay tuned for what’s next for #Bat1K, this is just the beginning! (27/n) @Sonja_Vernes @EmmaTeeling1
For open access to our #Bat1K genomes you can use our Dresden genome browser by the @hillermich lab: genome-public.pks.mpg.de and also here bds.mpi-cbg.de/hillerlab/Bat1… (28/n)
Our genomes are also open access via the @NCBI ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?te… (29/n)
