PERMANENT GENETIC RESOURCES: Development of polymorphic microsatellite loci for the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus (Chiroptera: Phylostomidae)

The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is one of three haematophagous species of bats and the only species in this genus. These New World bats prey on mammals and create significant economic impacts through transmission of rabies in areas where livestock are prevalent. Furthermore, in some portions of their range, it is not uncommon for them to prey upon humans. It is critical to the management of this species and for understanding the spread of bat rabies that detailed studies of D. rotundus population structure be conducted. To further such studies, we have characterized 12 microsatellite loci for this species.     

Iron balance in the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus

1. Total body iron in the common vampire bat was 80 +/- 67 mg Fe/kg body wt (mean +/- SD). 2. Mean (+/- SD) iron absorption as measured by the double isotope method was 0.068 +/- 0.0032% Fe. A typical adult bat ingests 6.1 mg Fe/day (Morton & Wimsatt, 1980) of which approximately 4.2 microgram Fe is absorbed. 3. Body iron turnover (BIT) was estimated from the decrease in specific radioactivity of the blood over more than a year. The mean (+/- SD) of the half-life of iron turnover was 379 +/- 101 days and that of the estimate of BIT. 0.14 +/- 0.04% TBI/day. This is equivalent to a loss of approximately 4.6 microgram Fe/day. 4. The common vampire bat maintains iron balance by severely limiting the percentage of iron absorbed from its very high iron diet.     

Aerobic bacterial flora from the digestive tract of the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

This study addresses the composition of microbial flora in the vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) primarily because all available data are outdated, and because of the economical significance of this bat species. Twenty-one bats were collected and their aerobic bacteria documented separately for stomach and intestine. Bacteria were identified through the Analytical Profile Index (API), and results analyzed with the APILAB software. A total of thirty bacterial species were isolated from sixteen females and five males. The most common species were Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, although other bacteria, such as Acinetobacterjohnsonii, Enterobacter sakazakii, Staphylococcus chromogenes, S. hyicus and S. xylosus were also common. The number of species found in the stomach and intestine was significantly different, and the intestine presented a higher diversity compared to the stomach. This has previously been found in other mammals and it is attributed to a reduction of acidity. Most of the species found in this study are considered normal components of the digestive tract of mammals, although other bacteria common in the skin of mammals and from aquatic environments were found. Bacteria from the skin may invade the vampire's stomach and/or intestine when the bat has contact with its prey, and may suggest that the vampire's feeding habit facilitates the invasion of other microbes not common in its digestive tract. The fact that bacteria from aquatic environments were also found suggests that D. rotundus, as previously found by other researchers, drinks free water when available, and water may be another source of microbial invasion.     

Ultrastructure of the pineal body of the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus

The type AB pineal body of the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus, was recessed and lobulated, was extensively vascularized and intimately related to great veins, and was unassociated with the epithalamic region. The habenular and the posterior commissures coursed anteriorly and were unassociated with the pineal. The saccular suprapineal recess of the third ventricle extended dorsally juxtaposed to the pineal body. These anatomical features are likely to make pinealectomies in the vampire more difficult to manage. The pineal parenchyma consisted of light pinealocytes surrounded by canaliculi of various sizes, often transmitting unmyelinated nerve fibers and glial processes. Desmosomes were common. The pinealocyte nuclei were large and highly infolded; characteristic cytoplasmic constituents included abundant dilated Golgi complexes associated with clear vesicles, numerous polyribosomes, few single cisternae of ribosome-studded rough endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, and occasional multivesicular bodies and lysosomes. Almost all pinealocytes exhibited centrioles and some, in addition, displayed basal bodies but rarely ciliary shafts. A conspicuous feature of the pinealocyte cytoplasm was the presence of branched bundles of intermediate filaments, especially in the perinuclear zone. Siderotic macrophages, lipofuscin-pigment-containing phagocytic cells, mast cells, myelin bodies, and both fenestrated and continuous capillaries were present. The perivascular compartment was densely packed with unmyelinated nerve bundles containing small to large fibers exhibiting axoaxonic densities. Other constituents of the perivascular compartment were club-shaped pinealocyte processes filled with clear vesicles, microtubules, an occasional mitochondrion, glial processes, and collagen fibers. "Synapselike" contacts were observed between the axons and pinealocyte processes. Abundant pinocytotic vesicles in the capillary endothelium indicated active pinocytosis. Myelinated nerve fibers were lacking. The pineal ultrastructure of Desmodus is in part unlike that reported for other mammals, including bats.     

Classification of human breathing sounds by the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus

Background  

The common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus is one of three bat species that feed exclusively on the blood of mammals often more than 1000 times its size. Vampire bats even feed on human blood. Moreover, they tend to feed on the same individual over consecutive nights.     

Phylogeography of the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus): Marked population structure, Neotropical Pleistocene vicariance and incongruence between nuclear and mtDNA markers

Background  

The common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus is an excellent model organism for studying ecological vicariance in the Neotropics due to its broad geographic range and its preference for forested areas as roosting sites. With the objective of testing for Pleistocene ecological vicariance, we sequenced a mitocondrial DNA (mtDNA) marker and two nuclear markers (RAG2 and DRB) to try to understand how Pleistocene glaciations affected the distribution of intraspecific lineages in this bat.     

Mitochondrial DNA variation and population genetic structure of the white-clawed crayfish, Austropotamobius pallipes pallipes

Here we report a high level of mtDNA variationfrom RFLP analysis within A. p. pallipes from 21 French and 4British populations. Seventeen haplotypes were recorded among 269individuals. Nucleotide sequence divergence (p) among mtDNAhaplotypes ranged from 0.0019 to 0.0425. Nucleotide diversity ()ranged from 0.01 to 0.006 (mean = 0.0031) and from 0 to 0.001(mean = 0.00037) for populations located in southern and northernFrance, respectively. Graphical representation from principalcoordinate analysis based on Nei's genetic distance values amongpopulations showed two groups, cluster A, including the 16populations sampled in the north-western and north-easternFrance, England and Wales and cluster B containing 9 populationssampled in the central and southern of France. No geneticdifferences were noted among the most northern French and Englishpopulations whereas marked interpopulation genetic diversity wasobserved in southern populations. Such genetic heterogeneityamong populations of A. p. pallipes appears to be related tohabitat fragmentation and subsequent recolonizations fromrefugial areas during the Pleistocene. Implications for theconservation of A. p. pallipes are discussed.     

Histochemical and structural characteristics of the testis of the vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus rotundus, Geoffrey, 1810)

The testicular stroma of the vampire bat including the testicular capsula and the lamina propria of the seminiferous tubuli, was strongly PAS-positive. This observation was a possible indication of great amounts of structural glycogen and other glycoconjugates at the level of smooth muscle cells; elongated contractile cells and/or collagen frameworks of the tunica albuginea and tubular lamina propria. In the last the basement membranes of the seminiferous tubules were particularly strongly PAS positive, as an indication of their neutral mucosubstances structural composition, previously described (Malmi et al., 1987). The epithelium lining from the cavitary and surface rete testis complex showed low reactivities to mucosubstances; total proteins and lipids and oxidative enzymes studied. Although the apical granulation at the rete testis epithelium showed an intense PAS reactivity with hypothesis of glycoprotein secretion, through the rete. The PAS, Sudan Black B, NADH, MDH and LDH reactions of the testicular interstitium seem correlate to steroid metabolism (biosynthesis and secretion), at the Leydig cells level. The seminiferous epithelium generally had low reactions to all the histochemical studies realized. Particularly in the adbasal compartment the histochemical localizations of NADH diaphorase and LDH were possible related to glycolytic activities and general carbohydrates metabolism, both enzymes, and hydrogen transport, the NADH. The strong PAS, diastase and PAS, and alcian blue pH 2.5 and PAS reactions observed in the adluminal seminiferous epithelium compartment were directly related to the spermatids acrosomal glycoconjugates structuration. Also the SDH localization at this level seems to be related to the mitochondrial activities at the middle piece level in the late spermatids.     

Recognition of spatial parameters by echolocation in the vampire bat,Desmodus rotundus

Summary Three vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) were trained in a two-choice apparatus (Fig. 1) to select the one of two passages that contained a vertical stick or narrow metal strip at a distance of 45 cm. To single sticks in isolation they responded at a width of 1.1 mm or more. Large surfaces in the vicinity of the target impaired the locating ability; the animals correctly choose a 20-mm-wide strip 2.5 cm in front of a strongly reflecting plate (Fig. 2) or 6 cm away on one side of it (Fig. 3).In a flight tunnel the response to single vertical obstacles of various size was studied. The sudden increase in echolocation-sound repetition rate as the obstacle was approached marked the response distance. This distance was 50–80 cm for thread obstacles 0.5 mm thick; the threshold diameter was 0.23 mm (Fig. 6). When the obstacles were mounted in a 30-cm-wide constriction of the tunnel the response occurred later; even a 10-mm-wide strip did not elicit a change in the sound pattern until the bats had approached to a distance of 60 cm (Fig. 6). The response distance increased significantly when the obstacles were moved in front of or beyond the constriction (Fig. 8).     

Fine structure of the boundary tissue of the seminiferous tubuli of the vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus, G.; Microchiroptera)

Structurally the boundary tissue of the vampire bat seminiferous tubuli showed 2 to 5 layers of connective tissue in which elongated contractile cells and lamellar and/or fibrillar collagen were noticed. This boundary tissue forms the seminiferous tubular lamina propria. Its structure was more complex around the seminiferous tubuli near the Capsula testicularis than between the adjacent and contiguous tubuli into the testicular lobuli. The whole ultrastructural organization of the seminiferous lamina propria was described here.     

Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of Glyptothorax fokiensis and Glyptothorax hainanensis in Asia

Whole mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b sequences in 62 fish from 13 locations in Southeast China identified two major clades corresponding to two allopatric taxa, Glyptothorax fokiensis fokiensis and Glyptothorax fokiensis hainanensis . Reciprocal monophyly and a molecular clock separation between these two taxa of 2·3 million years indicate these taxa should be elevated to species. Mismatch distributions and Fu's F _S statistic suggest that both G. fokiensis and G. hainanensis have experienced recent population expansions. Analysis of molecular variance indicates that most of the genetic variation resides among populations within both species, with Φ _ST= 0·645 for G. fokiensis and 0·801 for G. hainanensis , suggesting restricted gene flow among populations. Significant correlations between the geographic and the genetic distances provide support for the importance of geographic isolations between populations. Nested clade analysis also confirms low levels of genetic exchanges between the two major groups and between populations within each group. The phylogeographical pattern among populations of Glyptothorax in East Asia can be attributed to historical fragmentations, demographic expansions and occasional long-distance dispersals stimulated by tectonic activity and Ice Age climate changes.     

A population genetic analysis of migration: the case of the noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula)

Although rarely assessed, the population genetics of hibernating colonies can help to understand some aspects of population structure, even when samples from nursery or mating colonies are not available, or in studies of migration when both types of samples are available and can be compared. Here we illustrate both points in a survey of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences used to study the population genetics of hibernating colonies of a migrating species, the noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula). Lacking samples from Scandinavian nursery colonies, we use a North European hibernacula to suggest that Scandinavian populations are isolated from Central and East European colonies. Then, we compare genetic diversities of nursery and hibernating colonies. We find a significantly higher haplotype diversity in hibernacula, confirming that they consist of individuals from different nursery colonies. Finally, we show that pairwise comparisons of the haplotype frequencies of nursery and hibernating colonies contain some information on the migration direction of the noctule bat.     

Phylogenetics and biogeography of the broad-nosed bats, genus Platyrrhinus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

The Neotropical broad-nosed bats, genus Platyrrhinus, represent a well-defined monophyletic group of 14 recognized species. A recent study of morphological characters confirmed Platyrrhinus monophyly and species diagnosis, but offered little support to their intra-specific relationships. We conducted phylogenetic analyses of the genus, using dense taxonomic sampling in combination with four gene sequences representing both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA transmission systems. Our aim was to elucidate the phylogenetic structure among species, using the resulting 3341 bp of DNA. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference analyses produced similar topologies that confirm the monophyly of the genus Platyrrhinus and strongly support many previously unrecognized groups. Paraphyly of Platyrrhinus helleri and the unclear position of P. brachycephalus in the clades were also apparent in the data. Our biogeographical analysis suggests a Brazilian Shield origin for Platyrrhinus, followed by subsequent radiations of lineages in the Amazon Basin and Andes. Secondary dispersal from Amazonian and Andean centers is responsible for the Platyrrhinus inhabiting the Guianan Shield and the Pacific lowlands and Central America, respectively.     

Mitochondrial phylogeography of the Japanese pond turtle,Mauremys japonica (Testudines,Geoemydidae)

The phylogeography of the Japanese pond turtle, Mauremys japonica (Temminck and Schlegel, 1835), which is an endemic species in Japan, was studied by analyzing the variation in two mitochondrial DNA sequences, the cytochrome b gene and the control region. These analyses suggest that M. japonica comprises two major groups. The first one was found in the more eastern region, eastern Honshu Island and Shikoku Island, while the second was found in a western region, Kyushu Island and the Chugoku District (the westernmost part of Honshu Island). The boundary between the two groups is located in the Chugoku District. The nucleotide and haplotype diversities were very low, and these low diversities seem to have been caused by a bottleneck in the last glacial age. These results suggest that this species survived the last glacial period in two refugia, one in the central part of Honshu Island and the other one in Kyushu Island. Subsequently, population expansion took place in the postglacial period, and the groups from the two refugia extended their distribution ranges to the present boundary in the Chugoku District which represents a secondary contact zone.     

Mitochondrial DNA sequence variation and phylogeographic patterns in harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Atlantic

The harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)experiences high rates of incidental mortalityin commercial fisheries, and in some areasthese rates are sufficiently high to justifyconcern over population sustainability. Giventhe high incidental mortality, the resolutionof population structure will be important toconservation and management, but in the NorthAtlantic the relationships among many of theputative populations remain unclear. Aprevious genetic study demonstrated substantialgenetic differences between eastern and westernNorth Atlantic populations, however thelocation of this break remained unresolved. Inthe present study, we addressed this issue byincluding new samples from Iceland. Toinvestigate population structure, variation inthe mitochondrial DNA of 370 porpoises wascompared among six locations corresponding toseveral of the putative populations (Gulf ofMaine, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, WestGreenland, Iceland, Norway). The first 342base pairs of the control region were sequencedand genetic variation investigated by analysisof molecular variance (F_ST and_ST) and ² withpermutation. Although some fine scalepopulation structure was detected, porpoisesfrom Iceland were found to be more similar tothe western populations (W. Greenland, Gulf ofSt. Lawrence, Newfoundland, Gulf of Maine) thanto Norway. Furthermore, porpoises from Norwaywere different from all other regions. Thesepatterns suggest the existence of adiscontinuity between Iceland and Norway,possibly the result of isolating events causedby repeated range contractions and expansionsthroughout Quaternary glaciation events withinthe North Atlantic. These results suggest thatharbour porpoise populations within the NorthAtlantic are distinguishable, but patterns mustbe interpreted in light of their historicalbiogeography.