Discovery of genomic variation across a generation.

Over the past 30 years (the timespan of a generation), advances in genomics technologies have revealed tremendous and unexpected variation in the human genome and have provided increasingly accurate answers to long-standing questions of how much genetic variation exists in human populations and to what degree the DNA complement changes between parents and offspring. Tracking the characteristics of these inherited and spontaneous (or de novo) variations has been the basis of the study of human genetic disease. From genome-wide microarray and next-generation sequencing scans, we now know that each human genome contains over 3 million single nucleotide variants when compared with the ~ 3 billion base pairs in the human reference genome, along with roughly an order of magnitude more DNA-approximately 30 megabase pairs (Mb)-being 'structurally variable', mostly in the form of indels and copy number changes.

Does evolution of echolocation calls and morphology in Molossus result from convergence or stasis?

Although many processes of diversification have been described to explain variation of morphological traits within clades that have obvious differentiation among taxa, not much is known about these patterns in complexes of cryptic species. Molossus is a genus of bats that is mainly Neotropical, occurring from the southeastern United States to southern Argentina, including the Caribbean islands. Molossus comprises some groups of species that are morphologically similar but phylogenetically divergent, and other groups of species that are genetically similar but morphologically distinct.

Cryptic diversity and range extension in the big-eyed bat genus (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae).

Since the last systematic review of (big-eyed bats) more than two decades ago, we report on biodiversity surveys that expand the distribution and species diversity of this Neotropical genus. The Caribbean endemic species is documented for the first time from Nevis in the northern Lesser Antilles. A broader geographic sampling for a molecular analysis identifies a paraphyletic relationship in with respect to .

Next generation sequencing data in the phylogenetic relationships of the genus (Chiroptera, Molossidae).

The mastiff bat is a broadly distributed genus within the family Molossidae. includes groups of species that are either morphologically or genetically very similar, rendering the taxonomy of this genus confusing and unstable. In this paper, we provide inferred phylogenetic relationships of based on the genotype by sequencing approach from 189 specimens of three species of New World mastiff bats (, , and ).

Comparative phylogeography of mainland and insular species of Neotropical molossid bats ().

Historical events, habitat preferences, and geographic barriers might result in distinct genetic patterns in insular versus mainland populations. Comparison between these two biogeographic systems provides an opportunity to investigate the relative role of isolation in phylogeographic patterns and to elucidate the importance of evolution and demographic history in population structure. Herein, we use a genotype-by-sequencing approach (GBS) to explore population structure within three species of mastiff bats (, , and ), which represent different ecological histories and geographical distributions in the genus.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) provide unprecedented resolution of species boundaries, phylogenetic relationships, and genetic diversity in the mastiff bats (Molossus).

Mammals are one of the better known groups of animals, and in the Neotropics bats typically comprise about half of the mammalian species diversity. But, well resolved species-level phylogenies are still lacking for most taxa of bats. One broadly distributed genus is the mastiff bats, Molossus.

Functional Shifts in Bat Dim-Light Visual Pigment Are Associated with Differing Echolocation Abilities and Reveal Molecular Adaptation to Photic-Limited Environments.

Bats are excellent models for studying the molecular basis of sensory adaptation. In Chiroptera, a sensory trade-off has been proposed between the visual and auditory systems, though the extent of this association has yet to be fully examined. To investigate whether variation in visual performance is associated with echolocation, we experimentally assayed the dim-light visual pigment rhodopsin from bat species with differing echolocation abilities.

Molecular data on the CO1 and beta fibrinogen gene in the evolutionary relationships of the mastiff bat (Chiroptera, Molossidae, ).

is one of the most diverse genera of free-tailed bats in the pantropical family Molossidae and occurs though all the Neotropics. Nevertheless, the taxonomy and phylogeny of this group is poorly understood. Here, we present the data on evolutionary relationships of based on DNA barcodes of COI gene from 346 specimens of and its sister genus and another New World molossid .

The role of ecological factors in shaping bat cone opsin evolution.

Bats represent one of the largest and most striking nocturnal mammalian radiations, exhibiting many visual system specializations for performance in light-limited environments. Despite representing the greatest ecological diversity and species richness in Chiroptera, Neotropical lineages have been undersampled in molecular studies, limiting the potential for identifying signatures of selection on visual genes associated with differences in bat ecology. Here, we investigated how diverse ecological pressures mediate long-term shifts in selection upon long-wavelength () and short-wavelength () opsins, photosensitive cone pigments that form the basis of colour vision in most mammals, including bats.