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Updated: Mar 13, 2026

High-throughput Screening for Protein-based Inheritance in S. cerevisiae
Published on: August 8, 2017
Functional Effects of a Retained Ancestral Polymorphism in Prestin
Yuan-Yuan Li1,2, Zhen Liu3, Fei-Yan Qi1
1State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
Abstract:
Molecular basis for mammalian echolocation has been receiving much concerns. Recent findings on the parallel evolution of prestin sequences among echolocating bats and toothed whales suggest that adaptations for high-frequency hearing have occurred during the evolution of echolocation. Here, we report that although the species tree for echolocating bats emitting echolocation calls with frequency modulated (FM) sweeps is paraphyletic, prestin exhibits similar functional changes between FM bats. Site-directed mutagenesis shows that the amino acid 308S in FM bats is responsible for the similar functional changes of prestin We strongly support that the occurrence of serine at position 308 is a case of hemiplasy, caused by incomplete lineage sorting of an ancestral polymorphism. Our study not only reveals sophisticated molecular basis of echolocation in bats, but also calls for caution in the inference of molecular convergence in species experiencing rapid radiation.
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