The ossicle X

• Project/Area Number: 18K19359
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 45:Biology at organismal to population levels and anthropology, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University (2019-2020); Musashino Art University (2018)
• Principal Investigator: Koyabu Daisuke 東京医科歯科大学, 大学院医歯学総合研究科, 非常勤講師 (60712510)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 飛龍 志津子 同志社大学, 生命医科学部, 教授 (70449510) ; 小林 耕太 同志社大学, 生命医科学部, 教授 (40512736)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2021-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2020)
• Budget Amount: ¥6,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,440,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000)
• Keywords: 進化 / エコーロケーション / 耳小骨 / コウモリ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

While there is consensus that powered flight evolved only once in the lineage, whether laryngeal echolocation has a single origin in bats or evolved multiple times independently remains disputed. Our comparative embryological investigations found that there is no developmental difference in the hearing apparatus between non-laryngeal echolocating bats (pteropodids) and terrestrial non-bat mammals. In contrast, the echolocation system is developed heterotopically and heterochronically in the two phylogenetically distant laryngeal echolocating bats (rhinolophoids and yangochiropterans), providing the first embryological evidence that the echolocation system evolved independently in these bats.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

コウモリは新型コロナウイルスの感染源の一つである可能性が指摘されているほか、エボラウイルスなどの人獣共通感染症の感染源でもあるとも指摘されている。さまざまな動物に重篤な症状を及ぼすこれらのウイルスにコウモリが感染しても、不思議なことにコウモリには重篤な症状がほとんど起きない。コウモリがなぜこれほどの強力な免疫系を有しているのかまだわかっていない。コウモリの生態、ゲノム、生理、進化に関する基礎研究が進むことで、コウモリはどのような免疫系と代謝系によってさまざまなウイルスとうまく付き合っているのか、人間への感染を防ぐことができるのかなど、さまざまな問題の解決への糸口がつかめてくると期待される。

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] ニューサウスウェールズ大学(オーストラリア)
• [Int'l Joint Research] チュービンゲン大学(ドイツ)
• [Int'l Joint Research] ベトナム科学アカデミー生態資 源研究所(ベトナム)
• [Int'l Joint Research] カリフォルニア大学ロサンゼル ス校(米国)
• [Journal Article] 3D model related to the publication: three-dimensional and histological observations on male genital organs of greater horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum. (2020)
  • Author(s): Joon Hyuk Sohn, Junpei Kimura, Daisuke Koyabu
  • Journal Title: Morphomuseum Volume: in press Issue: 5 Pages: e113-e113
  • DOI: 10.18563/journal.m3.113
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Non-invasive age estimation by cranial suture closure in Japanese sika deer (Cervus nippon). (2019)
  • Author(s): Oh, J.W., Minami, M.,Ikeda, S.,Takatsuki, S., Oonishi, N, Higuchi, N., Okada, A., Kimura, J., Koyabu, D
  • Journal Title: Mammal Study Volume: 印刷中 Issue: 3 Pages: 147-147
  • DOI: 10.3106/ms2018-0065
  • NAID: 40021947477
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Patterns and Constraints of Craniofacial Variation in Colobine Monkeys: Disentangling the Effects of Phylogeny, Allometry and Diet (2019)
  • Author(s): Ledevin Ronan、Koyabu Daisuke
  • Journal Title: Evolutionary Biology Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Pages: 14-34
  • DOI: 10.1007/s11692-019-09469-7
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Postcranial heterochrony, modularity, integration and disparity in the prenatal ossification in bats (Chiroptera) (2019)
  • Author(s): Lopez-Aguirre Camilo、Hand Suzanne J.、Koyabu Daisuke、Son Nguyen Truong、Wilson Laura A. B.
  • Journal Title: BMC Evolutionary Biology Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Pages: 75-75
  • DOI: 10.1186/s12862-019-1396-1
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Prenatal allometric trajectories and the developmental basis of postcranial phenotypic diversity in bats (Chiroptera) (2019)
  • Author(s): Lopez-Aguirre Camilo、Hand Suzanne J.、Koyabu Daisuke、Son Nguyen Truong、Wilson Laura A. B.
  • Journal Title: Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution Volume: 332 Issue: 1-2 Pages: 36-49
  • DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.22846
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Biogeographic variation in skull morphology across the Kra Isthmus in dusky leaf monkeys. (2018)
  • Author(s): Ito, T., Koyabu, D.
  • Journal Title: Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research Volume: in press Issue: 4 Pages: 599-610
  • DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12229
  • NAID: 120006715529
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Prenatal cranial bone development of Thomas’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus thomasi): with special reference to petrosal morphology. (2018)
  • Author(s): Nojiri, T., Werneburg, I., Son, N.T., Tu, V.T., Sasaki, T., Maekawa, Y., Koyabu, D.
  • Journal Title: Journal of Morphology Volume: in press Issue: 6 Pages: 809-827
  • DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20813
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Evolution of the temporal region in the early amniote skull (2019)
  • Author(s): Pascal Abel, Daisuke Koyabu, Ingmar Werneburg.
  • Organizer: ドイツ古生物学会年次大会
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Prenatal Development of Echolocation-Related Traits in Bats and the Origin of Laryngeal Echolocation: Single Origin or Convergence? (2019)
  • Author(s): Koyabu D, Nojiri T.
  • Organizer: 国際脊椎動物形態学会
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] The Morphogenetic Basis of Mammalian Flight: Allometric Trajectories and Ossification Heterochronies in Prenatal Skeletogenesis of Bats (2019)
  • Author(s): Lopez-Aguirre C, Wilson LAB, Koyabu D, Hand SJ.
  • Organizer: 国際脊椎動物形態学会
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Does Prenatal Development Support a Single Origin of Laryngeal Echolocation in Bats? (2019)
  • Author(s): Nojiri T, Koyabu D.
  • Organizer: 国際脊椎動物形態学会
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] On the Development of the Nasal Capsule and Turbinate Homology in Laurasiatherians, with Special Reference to Bats (2019)
  • Author(s): Ito K, Nojiri T, Koyabu D.
  • Organizer: 国際脊椎動物形態学会
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited