The cover of this week's Nature magazine is a dramatic photo of a vampire bat in flight.
1) Heat-thirsty bats A common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) in flight, photographed in Mexico. These blood-feeding bats have evolved the ability to detect infrared (IR) radiation as a means of locating hot spots on warm-blooded prey. Only three other vertebrate lineages have this 'sixth' sense: three distantly related groups of snakes (pit vipers, pythons and boas). In all cases, the IR sensor is a highly specialized facial structure called the pit organ. In the snakes, a non-heat-sensitive ion channel (vertebrate TRPA1) has become an infrared detector. As reported in this issue, vampire bats use a slightly different molecular mechanism whereby RNA splicing generates a variant of the ubiquitous TRPV1 heat-sensitive channel that is tuned to lower temperatures. Comparison of this channel's gene sequence with the equivalent in other mammals lends support to the hypothesis based on molecular data that these bats are evolutionarily grouped with horses, dogs, cows, moles and dolphins (in the Laurasiatheria superorder), rather than with humans, monkeys and rodents (in the Euarchontoglires) as originally proposed on anatomical criteria. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v476/n7358/full/nature10245.html 2) Gene pool offers way to save Mexican oasis Commercializing genetic wealth will test biodiversity treaty This is a news article about the groundwater depletion in the Cuatro Cienegas basin, and the efforts of researchers to partner with local Mexican farmers to protect the area via potential commercialization of biological materials discovered by the scientists. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110803/full/476019a.html -------------- The second item should be accessible to anyone, the first article will require a subscription to access. Contact me directly if you would like to read it. Diana * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Diana R. Tomchick Associate Professor University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Department of Biochemistry 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Rm. ND10.214B Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A. Email: [email protected] 214-645-6383 (phone) 214-645-6353 (fax) ________________________________ UT Southwestern Medical Center The future of medicine, today. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
