Phylogenetic Relationships of Verspertilionid Bats Based on Nuclear and Mitochondrial Gene Sequences

蝙蝠科包含约376种小型蝙蝠，主要以食虫为主，分布于世界各地。 不幸的是，我们对这个蝙蝠家族内部的进化关系的理解严重缺乏。 考虑到蝙蝠类占所有蝙蝠物种的约34%，占所有哺乳动物物种的约8%，这种知识的缺乏是令人惊讶的。 因此，本研究的目的是通过7个核基因的DNA序列数据，阐明蝙蝠科蝙蝠的系统发育和亲缘关系。 这些新生成的数据将与先前为这些相同分类群生成的线粒体DNA序列相结合。 在过去的十年中，负责3种可能对人类致命的疾病（亨德拉，尼帕和SARS）的病毒已被追溯到蝙蝠。 虽然病毒成分不是这个项目的一部分，但很明显，如果病毒学家和流行病学家要了解蝙蝠携带的病毒的进化，那么对他们采样的蝙蝠的分类和进化关系有一个清晰的了解是至关重要的。 因此，阐明vespertilionid蝙蝠的进化关系和分类不仅对我们理解这个非常成功的群体的适应性辐射至关重要，而且对病毒学领域和潜在的人类健康问题也至关重要。

The family Vespertilionidae contains about 376 species of small, primarily insectivorous, bats with a worldwide distribution. Unfortunately, our understanding of the evolutionary relationships within this family of bats is seriously lacking. Given that vespertilionids comprise approximately 34% of all bat species and about 8% of all species of mammals, this paucity of knnowledge is surprising. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to elucidate the phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of vespertilionid bats through the generation of DNA sequence data from 7 nuclear genes. These newly generated data will be combined with mitochondrial DNA sequences previously generated for these same taxa. Data from all 8 loci will be analyzed using a variety of phylogenetic methods.Over the last decade, viruses responsible for 3 diseases potentially deadly to humans (Hendra, Nipah, and SARS) have been traced to bats. Although the viral component is not part of this project, it is obvious that if virologists and epidemiologists are to understand the evolution of viruses carried by bats, it is paramount to have a clear understanding of the taxonomy and evolutionary relationships of bats they are sampling. Thus, elucidating the evolutionary relationships and taxonomy of vespertilionid bats is not only critical to our understanding of the adaptive radiation of this remarkably successful group, but also to the field of virology and potential human health issues.