Telomerase Activity in the Bats Hipposideros armiger and Rousettus leschenaultia

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Lei Wang¹, B. M. McAllan², and Guimei He^1*

¹School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Rd, Shanghai, 200062, China; fax: 86-21-6223-5786; E-mail: gmhe@bio.ecnu.edu.cn; wanglei010@hotmail.com

²School of Medical Sciences, Discipline of Physiology, Anderson Stuart Building (F13), The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; E-mail: bmcallan@physiol.usyd.edu.au

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received March 17, 2011

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Telomerase activity was examined in two species of bat, Hipposideros armiger and Rousettus leschenaultia, which have similar body mass and lifespan but differ in use of hibernation. We found that telomerase activity was present in all tissues sampled, but it was greater in metabolically active tissues such as liver, spleen, and kidney. Of special interest is the raised activity found in the heterothermic bat H. armiger, and the hibernating bats having raised values for spleen, heart, and kidney. These findings show that maintenance of high levels of telomerase is an essential part of the regulation of cellular activities during hibernation.

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KEY WORDS: bat, body mass, hibernation, telomerase activity

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297911090057

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