Citation
Convergent Sequence Evolution Between Echolocating Bats and Dolphins
TL;DR
Prestin gene shows convergent amino acid changes in bats and dolphins
Discovered that the hearing gene Prestin shows convergent amino acid substitutions in echolocating bats and dolphins - the same molecular solutions to high-frequency hearing evolved independently in lineages separated by 100+ million years.
This demonstrates convergence at the molecular level: when functional requirements are stringent (physics of high-frequency hearing), even the specific protein solutions converge. For business, this suggests that when constraints are extremely tight, not just strategies but implementations may converge.
Key Findings from Liu & al. (2010)
- Prestin gene shows convergent amino acid changes in bats and dolphins
- Same molecular solutions evolved independently for echolocation
- Functional constraints on protein structure drive molecular convergence