Species-specific Features of Blood Plasma Amino Acid Spectrum of Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in the Urals

Abstract

The amino acid spectrum of blood plasma in three bat species (Myotis dasycneme, Pipistrellus nathusii, Vespertilio murinus) inhabiting the Urals has been studied for the first time. The bats were trapped in the zone of their high abundance in Chelyabinsk oblast (2013–2014). Free amino acids were determined by liquid ion exchange chromatography (a total of 384 determinations). It has been shown that the plasma amino acid spectrum consists of 22 amino acids in subadult bats of all three species, but there are species-specific differences in their concentrations. The total amino-acid pool concentration in migratory P. nathusii and V. murinus exceeds that in resident M. dasycneme by factors of 2.9 and 1.8, respectively. Migratory species are characterized by a high concentration of plasma arginine: it is six times higher in V. murinus than in M. dasycneme, and in P. nathusii arginine accounts for 25.4% of the amino acid pool. The group of glucogenic amino acids is prevalent in the blood plasma of migratory species (75% in V. murinus and 79% in P. nathusii), while in M. dasycneme the total proportion of lysine, glycine, and glutamic acid is 2.3 times lower than in P. nathusii and 1.7 lower than in V. murinus (p < 0.05). These results provide evidence for significant differences in the contents of free blood plasma amino acids between migratory and resident bat species.