Ganglion-specific splicing of TRPV1 underlies infrared sensation in vampire bats

Elena O. Gracheva, Julio F. Cordero-Morales, José A. González-Carcacía, Nicholas T. Ingolia (), Carlo Manno, Carla I. Aranguren, Jonathan S. Weissman and David Julius ()
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Elena O. Gracheva: University of California
Julio F. Cordero-Morales: University of California
José A. González-Carcacía: Centro de Ecología, Laboratorio de Biología de Organismos, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela
Nicholas T. Ingolia: Carnegie Institution
Carlo Manno: Centro de Biofísica y Bioquímica, Laboratorio de Fisiología Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela
Carla I. Aranguren: Centro de Ecología, Laboratorio de Biología de Organismos, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela
Jonathan S. Weissman: University of California
David Julius: University of California

Nature, 2011, vol. 476, issue 7358, 88-91

Abstract: The vampire bat's unique infrared detectors Blood-feeding vampire bats have evolved the ability to detect infrared (IR) radiation as a means of locating hot spots on warm-blooded prey. Only three other vertebrate lineages have this 'sixth' sense: three distantly related groups of snakes (pit vipers, pythons and boas). In all cases, the IR sensor is a highly specialized facial structure called the pit organ. In the snakes, a non-heat-sensitive ion channel (vertebrate TRPA1) has become an infrared detector. As reported in this issue, vampire bats use a slightly different molecular mechanism whereby RNA splicing generates a variant of the ubiquitous TRPV1 heat-sensitive channel that is tuned to lower temperatures. Comparison of this channel's gene sequence with the equivalent in other mammals lends support to the hypothesis based on molecular data that these bats are evolutionarily grouped with horses, dogs, cows, moles and dolphins (in the Laurasiatheria superorder), rather than with humans, monkeys and rodents (in the Euarchontoglires) as originally proposed on anatomical criteria.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature10245

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