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Tissue Collection of Bats for -Omics Analyses and Primary Cell Culture
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Published on: October 23, 2019

Convergent sequence evolution between echolocating bats and dolphins.

Yang Liu1, James A Cotton, Bin Shen

  • 1School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.

Current Biology : CB
|February 5, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Convergent evolution at the genetic level is rare. This study found that the Prestin gene in echolocating bats and dolphins shows convergent amino acid substitutions, driven by natural selection.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Convergent evolution, the independent evolution of similar traits in different lineages, is well-documented.
  • However, adaptive convergence at the molecular sequence level is exceptionally rare.
  • The motor protein Prestin is crucial for high-frequency hearing in mammals.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate adaptive sequence convergence in the Prestin gene.
  • To determine if echolocating dolphins exhibit similar genetic convergence as previously observed in bats.
  • To identify the driving forces behind these observed genetic changes.

Main Methods:

  • Phylogenetic analysis of the Prestin gene across different mammalian lineages.
  • Amino acid sequence comparison between echolocating bats and dolphins.
  • Statistical tests to detect evidence of natural selection.

Main Results:

  • The Prestin gene in echolocating dolphins shows convergent amino acid substitutions.
  • These substitutions are shared with echolocating bats, despite independent evolutionary paths.
  • Evidence suggests these convergent changes were driven by natural selection.

Conclusions:

  • The Prestin gene provides a rare example of adaptive sequence convergence.
  • This convergence in echolocating mammals highlights the power of natural selection in shaping functionally important genes.
  • Further research into Prestin's role in echolocation and hearing is warranted.