Hear, hear: the convergent evolution of echolocation in bats?
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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Tissue Collection of Bats for -Omics Analyses and Primary Cell Culture
Published on: October 23, 2019
1UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. emma.teeling@ucd.ie
Abstract:
The evolutionary history of laryngeal echolocation is controversial, and little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie this sense. A recent paper by Li and colleagues is one of the first studies to identify and sequence a gene involved in echolocation in bats -Prestin, the so-called mammalian hearing gene. Phylogenetic analyses show evidence for positive selection acting on this gene in the echolocating lineages and support the convergent evolution of laryngeal echolocation in bats.
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