The Jamaican fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis, is a member of the New World leaf-nosed bats, Phyllostomidae. The unique nose shape of the fruit bat plays a role in echo location, modifying and directing echolocation calls. While they are commonly referred to as the Jamaican fruit bat, they are actually widely distributed geographically. One could find the species from Southern Mexico, to northwestern South America. They seem to thrive even despite habitat destruction, and are of least concern for conservation status [1].
Today, we share the chromosome-length upgrade for the Jamaican fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis, based on the draft assembly by Wang et. al (2020). The sample used for this upgrade was a primary fibroblast cell line provided by the T.C. Hsu Cryo-Zoo. We thank Drs. Asha Multani, Sen Pathak, Richard Behringer, Liesl Nel-Themaat and Arisa Furuta in the Department of Genetics at the MD Anderson Cancer Center for their help with this sample.
This cell line was originally frozen back in 1974 and was still thriving, see the picture below!
This is the 13th Chiroptera species we've released here on the DNA Zoo blog! Subscribe below for more weekly releases. While you're here, don't forget to check out the interactive Hi-C contact map for the 15 chromosomes of Artibeus jamaicensis below!