Genetic variations in the bitter taste receptor gene TAS2R38 are related to cigarette smoking behavior in Han Chinese smokers.

Background: Smoking behavior is influenced by multiple genes, including the bitter taste gene TAS2R38. It has been reported that the correlation between TAS2R38 and smoking behavior has ethnicity-based differences. However, the TAS2R38 status in Chinese smokers is still unclear.

Molecular convergence and transgenic evidence suggest a single origin of laryngeal echolocation in bats.

The laryngeal echolocation is regarded as one of the conspicuous traits that play major roles in flourishing bats. Whether the laryngeal echolocation in bats originated once, however, is still controversial. We here address this question by performing molecular convergence analyses between ancestral branches of bats and toothed whales.

Echolocation in soft-furred tree mice.

Echolocation is the use of reflected sound to sense features of the environment. Here, we show that soft-furred tree mice () echolocate based on multiple independent lines of evidence. Behavioral experiments show that these mice can locate and avoid obstacles in darkness using hearing and ultrasonic pulses.

Two Mercury Antimony Chalcogenides CsHgSbS and CsHgSbSe with Cesium Cations as Counterions.

Two novel layer structure compounds, CsHgSbS and CsHgSbSe, were synthesized in organic solvent under solvothermal conditions. The CsHgSbS is formed of [HgSbS] ribbons and S atoms by corner sharing. The CsHgSbSe is made up of [SbHgSe] ribbon and disorder trigonal-pyramidal SbSe by sharing μ-Se.

Genomic and functional evidence reveals molecular insights into the origin of echolocation in whales.

Echolocation allows toothed whales to adapt to underwater habitats where vision is ineffective. Because echolocation requires the ability to detect exceptional high-frequency sounds, fossils related to the auditory system can help to pinpoint the origin of echolocation in whales. However, because of conflicting interpretations of archaeocete fossils, when and how whales evolved the high-frequency hearing correlated with echolocation remain unclear.

Functional Effects of a Retained Ancestral Polymorphism in Prestin.

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.

Parallel sites implicate functional convergence of the hearing gene prestin among echolocating mammals.

Echolocation is a sensory system whereby certain mammals navigate and forage using sound waves, usually in environments where visibility is limited. Curiously, echolocation has evolved independently in bats and whales, which occupy entirely different environments. Based on this phenotypic convergence, recent studies identified several echolocation-related genes with parallel sites at the protein sequence level among different echolocating mammals, and among these, prestin seems the most promising.