title: The cutaneous lipid composition of bat wing and tail membranes: a case of convergent evolution with birds.
abstract: The water vapour permeability barrier of mammals and birds resides in the stratum corneum (SC), the outermost layer of the epidermis. The molar ratio and molecular arrangement of lipid classes in the SC determine the integrity of this barrier. Increased chain length and polarity of ceramides, the most abundant lipid class in mammalian SC, contribute to tighter packing and thus to reduced cutaneous evaporative water loss (CEWL). However, tighter lipid packing also causes low SC hydration, making it brittle, whereas high hydration softens the skin at the cost of increasing CEWL. Cerebrosides are not present in the mammalian SC; their pathological accumulation occurs in Gaucher's disease, which leads to a dramatic increase in CEWL. However, cerebrosides occur normally in the SC of birds. We tested the hypothesis that cerebrosides are also present in the SC of bats, because they are probably necessary to confer pliability to the skin, a quality needed for flight. We examined the SC lipid composition of four sympatric bat species and found that, as in birds, their SC has substantial cerebroside contents, not associated with a pathological state, indicating convergent evolution between bats and birds.
authors.affiliation: Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8499000 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel miri.benhamo@mail.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4879-3658
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben-Hamo
authors.affiliation: Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8499000 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University at Mansfield, Mansfield, OH 44906, USA.
authors.forename: Agustí
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Garcia
authors.affiliation: Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8499000 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
authors.forename: Paloma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Larrain
authors.affiliation: Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8499000 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
authors.forename: Berry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pinshow
authors.affiliation: Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8499000 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
authors.forename: Carmi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Korine
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001717:Birds; D002685:Chiroptera; D004817:Epidermis / Q000737:chemistry*; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D014870:Water Loss, Insensible; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids
keywords: Aves; Chiroptera; skin