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Submission + - Scientists May Have Finally Figured Out How Bats Avoid Cancer (sciencealert.com)

alternative_right writes: Several bats species have been found to possess multiple copies of a known tumor-suppressing gene called p53. Humans have just a single copy, while other cancer-resistant animals, like elephants, boast up to 20. Mutations in this gene are linked to more than half of all human cancers

But a mechanism that's too aggressive at killing cells is obviously not desirable either. Thankfully, bats compensate with an overactive enzyme called telomerase, which allows their cells to continue to proliferate.

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