Temporal patterns of bat activity on the High Plains of Texas

Texas is home to more wind turbines and more bat species than any other state in the United States. Insectivorous bats provide an important economical ecosystem service in this region through agricultural pest regulation. Unfortunately, bats can be impacted negatively by wind turbines, and migratory bat species particularly so. To understand how bat activity changes throughout the year in western Texas, activity was monitored through echolocation calls and opportunistic mist-netting efforts over a period of four years (2012–2015). Peaks in activity were observed from March through April, and again in September, which coincides with previously documented migratory periods for many species native to the High Plains of Texas. Findings presented herein suggest that urban habitats are preferred stopover sites for migratory bat species while traversing arid regions such as those occurring in western Texas. In addition to human-made structures, urban habitats harbor non-native trees that provide suitable roost sites, aggregations of insect prey swarming outdoor light sources, and artificial water sources. It is important to understand bat activity in western Texas, not only for the benefit of agricultural pest suppression, but also to predict how the expansion of wind energy may affect bat populations in this region

Chromosomal Evolution in Chiroptera

Chiroptera is the second largest order among mammals, with over 1300 species in 21 extant families. The group is extremely diverse in several aspects of its natural history, including dietary strategies, ecology, behavior and morphology. Bat genomes show ample chromosome diversity (from 2n = 14 to 62). As with other mammalian orders, Chiroptera is characterized by clades with low, moderate and extreme chromosomal change. In this article, we will discuss trends of karyotypic evolution within distinct bat lineages (especially Phyllostomidae, Hipposideridae and Rhinolophidae), focusing on two perspectives: evolution of genome architecture, modes of chromosomal evolution, and the use of chromosome data to resolve taxonomic problems

Evolution and Diversity of Transposable Elements in Vertebrate Genomes

Transposable elements (TEs) are selfish genetic elements that mobilize in genomes via transposition or retrotransposition and often make up large fractions of vertebrate genomes. Here, we review the current understanding of vertebrate TE diversity and evolution in the context of recent advances in genome sequencing and assembly techniques. TEs make up 4-60% of assembled vertebrate genomes, and deeply branching lineages such as ray-finned fishes and amphibians generally exhibit a higher TE diversity than the more recent radiations of birds and mammals. Furthermore, the list of taxa with exceptional TE landscapes is growing. We emphasize that the current bottleneck in genome analyses lies in the proper annotation of TEs and provide examples where superficial analyses led to misleading conclusions about genomeevolution. Finally, recent advances in long-read sequencing will soon permit access to TE-rich genomic regions that previously resisted assembly including the gigantic, TE-rich genomes of salamanders and lungfishes

Heterochromatin variation and LINE-1 distribution in Artibeus (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) from Central Amazon, Brazil

Volume: 11Start Page: 613End Page: 62

Dietary and flight energetic adaptations in a salivary gland transcriptome of an insectivorous bat.

We hypothesized that evolution of salivary gland secretory proteome has been important in adaptation to insectivory, the most common dietary strategy among Chiroptera. A submandibular salivary gland (SMG) transcriptome was sequenced for the little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus. The likely secretory proteome of 23 genes included seven (RETNLB, PSAP, CLU, APOE, LCN2, C3, CEL) related to M. lucifugus insectivorous diet and metabolism. Six of the secretory proteins probably are endocrine, whereas one (CEL) most likely is exocrine. The encoded proteins are associated with lipid hydrolysis, regulation of lipid metabolism, lipid transport, and insulin resistance. They are capable of processing exogenous lipids for flight metabolism while foraging. Salivary carboxyl ester lipase (CEL) is thought to hydrolyze insect lipophorins, which probably are absorbed across the gastric mucosa during feeding. The other six proteins are predicted either to maintain these lipids at high blood concentrations or to facilitate transport and uptake by flight muscles. Expression of these seven genes and coordinated secretion from a single organ is novel to this insectivorous bat, and apparently has evolved through instances of gene duplication, gene recruitment, and nucleotide selection. Four of the recruited genes are single-copy in the Myotis genome, whereas three have undergone duplication(s) with two of these genes exhibiting evolutionary 'bursts' of duplication resulting in multiple paralogs. Evidence for episodic directional selection was found for six of seven genes, reinforcing the conclusion that the recruited genes have important roles in adaptation to insectivory and the metabolic demands of flight. Intragenic frequencies of mobile- element-like sequences differed from frequencies in the whole M. lucifugus genome. Differences among recruited genes imply separate evolutionary trajectories and that adaptation was not a single, coordinated event

Summary for seven genes recruited to the secretory proteome of the submandibular salivary gland in the little brown bat, <i>Myotis lucifugus</i>.

<p>The predicted secretory pathway (exocrine or endocrine) is based on protein function. Expression sites selected as typical are based on a combination of literature and EST profile.</p

Summary of frequency (given in percentages) of mobile-element-like sequences in the <i>Myotis lucifugus</i> genome (from Pagán et al. ref 74) compared to intragenic frequencies (given in percentages) in the introns of four genes recruited to the submandibular salivary gland proteome.

<p>The data for <i>C3</i> are for all 7 paralogs. The data for <i>CEL</i> are from Gene 1 (based on 21 mobile element sequences in this gene), which is expressed in the SMG. The 5 paralogous <i>CEL</i> genes have only 2–5 mobile sequences/gene. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0083512#pone-0083512-g005" target="_blank">Fig. 5</a> for graphical presentation.</p

Gene tree for the <i>C3</i> genes in <i>Myotis lucifugus</i>.

<p>Numbers of codons under episodic positive selection are shown for each lineage where they occur. Gene ENSMLUG00000011254 is expressed in the principal submandibular gland (labeled SMG). Genes are numbered G1-G7 to correspond to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0083512#pone-0083512-g005" target="_blank">Figure 5</a> and text.</p

Read mapping statistics.

<p>Read mapping statistics.</p