ArticleScientific reports2018
Population level mitogenomics of long-lived bats reveals dynamic heteroplasmy and challenges the Free Radical Theory of Ageing.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Molecular evolution of animal aging.The EMBO journal · 2026Review
- Mitochondrial diversity of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Mountain Gorillas.Genome biology · 2025Article
- Review
- A field guide for sampling bats (Chiroptera) for eco-epidemiological studies.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Review
- Analysis of Cancer-Resisting Evolutionary Adaptations in Wild Animals and Applications for Human Oncology.Journal of molecular evolution · 2024Review
- A new type of tandem repeats in Myotis petax (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) mitochondrial control region.Molecular biology reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Aging at Evolutionary Crossroads: Longitudinal Gene Co-expression Network Analyses of Proximal and Ultimate Causes of Aging in Bats.Molecular biology and evolution · 2022Article
- Induced bacterial sickness causes inflammation but not blood oxidative stress in Egyptian fruit bats (Conservation physiology · 2022Article
- Unparalleled mitochondrial heteroplasmy andCurrent research in insect science · 2022Article
- A phylogenetic review of cancer resistance highlights evolutionary solutions to Peto's Paradox.Genetics and molecular biology · 2022Article
- Ageing European lobsters (Evolutionary applications · 2021Article
- Evolution of mammalian longevity: age-related increase in autophagy in bats compared to other mammals.Aging · 2021Article
- Alternative Animal Models of Aging Research.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2021Review
- SARS-CoV-2 and mitochondrial health: implications of lifestyle and ageing.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2020Review
- Article
- The World Goes Bats: Living Longer and Tolerating Viruses.Cell metabolism · 2020Review
- Faraway, so close. The comparative method and the potential of non-model animals in mitochondrial research.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Novel Insights Into Immune Systems of Bats.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Review
- Evolution of Flight Muscle Contractility and Energetic Efficiency.Frontiers in physiology · 2020Review
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6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Bats are the only mammals capable of true, powered flight, which drives an extremely high metabolic rate. The "Free Radical Theory of Ageing" (FTRA) posits that a high metabolic rate causes mitochondrial heteroplasmy and the progressive ageing phenotype. Contrary to this, bats are the longest-lived order of mammals given their small size and high metabolic rate. To investigate if bats exhibit increased mitochondrial heteroplasmy with age, we performed targeted, deep sequencing of mitogenomes and measured point heteroplasmy in wild, long lived Myotis myotis. Blood was sampled from 195 individuals, aged between <1 and at 6+ years old, and whole mitochondria deep-sequenced, with a subset sampled over multiple years. The majority of heteroplasmies were at a low frequency and were transitions. Oxidative mutations were present in only a small number of individuals, suggesting local oxidative stress events. Cohort data showed no significant increase in heteroplasmy with age, while longitudinal data from recaptured individuals showed heteroplasmy is dynamic, and does not increase uniformly over time. We show that bats do not suffer from the predicted, inevitable increase in heteroplasmy as posited by the FRTA, instead heteroplasmy was found to be dynamic, questioning its presumed role as a primary driver of ageing.
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