Good news program for flying mammals : chubby little brownbatsmight be genetically resistant to white - nose syndrome , a fungal disease that ’s kill more than 5.5 million bats since it was first document in 2006 [ PDF ] . A newstudyin the journalScientific Reportsdescribes three hereditary adaptations in the bat that could protect them from the pathogen .
minuscule brown bats ( Myotis lucifugus ) , coarse in Canada and the eastern United States , are especiallysusceptibleto white - olfactory organ syndrome . grant to leading author Giorgia G. Auteri , a doctorial candidate at the University of Michigan , white - nose syndrome kill bat by disrupt their hibernation cycle .
“ When they ’re in hibernation in the winter , they ’re not meant to be waking up . They ’re supposed to be at peace , ” Auteri separate Mental Floss . “ But this fungus grows on them , and it causes the bat to keep waking up during hibernation . And because they ’re waking up when they should n’t be , they ’re running out of fat reserves too betimes . ”
But while white - olfactory organ syndrome hasdevastatedbat populations in North America , not all infect bat die from the disease — some recover . Auteri wanted to find out what made the survivor so limited .
Auteri and her team compared the genic make-up of nine surviving and 29 non - living petty browned bats from northern Michigan . They discovered that survivors deal three important genetical distinctions . “ One is call for with fat metamorphosis , ” she aver . “ And another is involved with regulating when the bats wake up from hibernation . And the third gene is involved in theirecholocationability , in their echo sounder for hunting dirt ball . ”
The issue make sense , Auteri says . Because white - nose syndrome interrupts bats ’ hibernation docket , bats with genes that relate to more optimum fat memory ( i.e. , they ’re fatter ) and better hibernation regulation ( i.e. , they slumber longer ) are more probable to last the disease .
Auteri ’s inquiry could help scientists and conservationist rule slipway to bear on little brown chiropteran populations . Besides being adorable , little brown cricket bat also act an crucial ecological part as piranha of insects like mosquitoes , moth , and other pests that are destructive to craw and forests .
