Abstract
It is accepted that smaller mammals with higher metabolic rates have shorter lifespans. The very few species that do not follow these rules can give insights into interesting differences. The recorded maximum lifespans of bats are exceptional - over 40 years, compared with the laboratory mouse of 4 years. We investigated the differences in the biochemical composition of mitochondria between bat and mouse species. We used proteomics and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry lipidomics, to interrogate mitochondrial fractions prepared from Mus musculus and Pipistrellus pipistrellus brain and skeletal muscle. Fatty acid binding protein 3 was found at different levels in mouse and bat muscle mitochondria and its orthologues were investigated in Caenorhabditis elegans knock-downs for LBP 4, 5 and 6. In the bat, high levels of free fatty acids and N-acylethanolamine lipid species together with a significantly greater abundance of fatty acid binding protein 3 in muscle (1.8-fold, p=0.037) were found. Manipulation of fatty acid binding protein orthologues in C. elegans suggest these proteins and their role in lipid regulation are important for mitochondrial function.
Highlights
Recent figures indicate that 21% of the world’s population will be aged 60 or over by 2050 [1]
We examined enriched mitochondrial fractions extracted from whole brain and skeletal muscle, these were chosen as tissue types that decline in performance with age and are likely to exhibit lifespan regulated changes
In brain mitochondria we found significant differences in two RAS oncogene family RAB proteins 1B and 14, these are GTPases involved in intracellular trafficking between Golgi and endosomes [26,27], there is accumulating evidence that differential regulation of tumour pathway proteins occurs in species of bats [28,29,30]
Summary
Recent figures indicate that 21% of the world’s population will be aged 60 or over by 2050 [1]. Observed mammalian biology mostly aligns with these theories there are a few www.aging-us.com notable exceptions, including the naked mole rat and microbats, that live much longer than their small body size and high metabolic rates would predict [7]. Bats have been shown to expend double the amount of energy in comparison to nonflying eutherian mammals and yet they live on average three times longer than non-flying eutherian mammals [12]. This raises the question; how do bats maintain such high metabolic rates without succumbing to accumulating damage over their lifespan?
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