scRNAseq of Bat Amygdala
Among mammals, wild bats possess several unique traits, includingextreme longevity, exceptional immunity, and the ability to adapt todifferent environments. Previous studies have shown significant functionalbehavioral activity differences between wild bats living in urban and ruralhabitats. The amygdala is a brain region involved in many innate socialbehaviors and plays a major role in regulating reward and fear responsesto those dynamic environmental inputs. However, the molecularecological imprint and the cellular building blocks of the amygdala of wildbats remains poorly understood. Herein, we performed a single-cell RNA-sequencing of the amygdala of juvenile Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettusaegyptiacus) from urban and rural origins. We identified unique molecularmarker sets of cell type profiles for excitatory and inhibitory neurons aswell as non-neuronal cells, including glial and immune cells. Differentialgene expression analysis between urban and rural bats revealed severalpreliminary candidate habitat dependent genes. Lastly, to reveal thesimilarities and differences in the amygdala of mammals, we conducted abat-mouse cross-species comparison of amygdala cell types based ontheir gene expression profile. By using the wild bat as an animal model,we can uncover the evolutionary homology and the ecological molecularsignature of brain cells in the amygdala of wild animals.