Brandt's myotis, recaptured 50 years after it was banded, sits at the long-lived end of the Myotis genus in a Nature comparison led from the University of California, Berkeley, while the black myotis lives about 7 years. Wing cells answered chemical DNA damage by opening cell-death pathways rather than repairing. The work is not a human study. A Cornell University team found in fruit flies that infection with Erwinia carotovora killed intestinal cells and pushed stem cells to make replacements, while diet resized existing cells.
In a Nature comparison led from the University of California, Berkeley, Brandt's myotis, recaptured 50 years after it was banded, sits at the long-lived end of the Myotis genus, while the black myotis lives about 7 years. Wing cells from the longest-lived North American species answered chemical DNA damage by opening cell-death pathways rather than trying to repair.[1]
The work rests on comparative genomics and cell-culture experiments in bats. It is not a human study and does not show that the same pathway sets human lifespan. The team also read the genomes for antiviral genes and noted that the mismatch between bat and human immune systems bears on how bat-borne viruses behave once they reach people.[1]
Infection with the bacterium Erwinia carotovora killed intestinal cells in fruit flies and pushed stem cells to make replacements, a Communications Biology report from a Cornell University team found. A change of diet instead made existing cells grow or shrink rather than triggering replacement. Well-fed flies showed rapid intestinal shrinkage after infection; in poorly fed flies the already small intestine barely shrank and the microbes became a food source. Damaged tissue did not simply return to its earlier state, and the team says any therapy based on these findings is many years away.[2]
