蝙蝠免疫器官和免疫相关基因的适应性进化研究

蝙蝠是SARS等多种病毒的自然宿主但却不发病，不易患肿瘤，耐受多种体外寄生虫，较同等体型哺乳动物的寿命长十余倍，这些现象都与蝙蝠特殊的免疫系统有关。但目前对蝙蝠免疫系统的适应性进化研究还很少，对以上特殊现象的免疫系统分子调控机制不够清楚。本项目拟对分属两个蝙蝠亚目6科7种蝙蝠的免疫系统做广泛而深入的研究。将具有不同冬眠习性和食性的蝙蝠做对比，研究5种重要免疫器官基因表达谱在同种蝙蝠冬眠和非冬眠期的差异，以及不同食性、不同物种之间的差异，并对重要的免疫相关基因做适应性分子进化分析。我们还将高通量测序所获得的蝙蝠数据与包括人、小鼠的已知哺乳动物数据做比较，在蝙蝠和小鼠中做基因表达试验验证，以发现不同哺乳动物免疫系统的差异。本项目将发现与蝙蝠免疫相关的重要基因及其特殊的分子进化模式，揭示冬眠、食性、物种对蝙蝠免疫器官基因表达谱的影响，为探究蝙蝠较其它哺乳动物更具抗病力和更长寿的分子机制迈进一步。

Bats are natural hosts for many viruses, such as SARS, but do not get sick. They are resistant to tumors and tolerate a variety of ectoparasites. They live more than ten times longer than mammals of the same size. These phenomena are related to the special immune system of bats. However, there is little research on the adaptive evolution of bat immune system, and the molecular regulatory mechanisms of this special immune system remain unclear. This project plans to study the immune system of 7 species of bats belonging to 6 families of the two suborders, and to find the differences between bats with and without hibernation abilities, and bats of different diets. We plan to study the differences of gene expression profiling of 5 important immune organs in the same species of bats during hibernation and non-hibernation periods, and different species of bats with different diets. We will also perform the molecular analysis of adaption evolution of important immune-associated genes. Moreover, we will compare the data of bats obtained from the high throughput sequencing with known data of other mammalian species, including human and mouse, and will perform gene expression experiments in bats and mice, which will find the differences of the immune system in mammals. This project will discover important genes related to bat immunity and their special molecular evolution, reveal the effects of hibernation, diet, population on the gene expression profiles of immune organs in bats, and explore the molecular mechanisms of anti-disease ability and longevity of bats a forward step.