Novel modifications to fructose metabolism are associated with adaptation to high-sugar diets in bats

Abstract

High-sugar diets in mammals are associated with a number of metabolic diseases including diabetes and obesity. However, frugivorous and nectivorous bats specialize in consuming diets high in simple sugars while remaining healthy. To investigate the metabolic adaptations in bats with high-sugar diets, we conducted targeted metabolomics on blood samples collected during the first ten minutes after glucose or fructose feeding in five bat species whose natural diets vary in sugar content. By comparing changes in blood metabolite levels over time both between feeding treatments and across dietary guild, we have been able to identify shifts in sugar processing that likely support the healthy metabolism of simple sugars mammals with high-sugar diets. Notably, despite both sugars being readily absorbed, only fructose feeding induced significant changes in other metabolites within ten minutes after feeding. Species who naturally consume more sugar showed both faster production of metabolic intermediates and lowered production of common deleterious byproducts of fructose metabolism than species with comparatively lower-sugar diets. The prioritization and refinement of fructose metabolism is therefore likely a more key aspect of how bats with high-sugar diets are able to avoid the diseases typically associated with excessive sugar consumption than modifications to glucose metabolism.