Age-dependent gene expression in the inner ear of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus).

ABSTRACT: For echolocating bats, hearing is essential for survival. Specializations for detecting and processing high frequency sounds are apparent throughout their auditory systems. Recent studies on echolocating mammals have reported evidence of parallel evolution in some hearing-related genes in which distantly related groups of echolocating animals (bats and toothed whales), cluster together in gene trees due to apparent amino acid convergence. However, molecular adaptations can occur not only in coding sequences, but also in the regulation of gene expression. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of hearing-related genes in the inner ear of developing big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, during the period in which echolocation vocalizations increase dramatically in frequency. We foun

SUBMITTER: Mao B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5658057 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature