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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Paul M. Cryan</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Madhava Meegaskumbura</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Robert S. Cornman</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2022</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br data-mce-bogus="1"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bats of the genus&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Lasiurus&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;occur throughout the Americas and have diversified into at least 20 species among three subgenera. The hoary bat (&lt;i&gt;Lasiurus cinereus&lt;/i&gt;) is highly migratory and ranges farther across North America than any other wild mammal. Despite the ecological importance of this species as a major insect predator, and the particular susceptibility of lasiurine bats to wind turbine strikes, our understanding of hoary bat ecology, physiology, and behavior remains poor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br data-mce-bogus="1"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To better understand adaptive evolution in this lineage, we used whole-genome sequencing to identify protein-coding sequence and explore signatures of positive selection. Gene models were predicted with Maker and compared to seven well-annotated and phylogenetically representative species. Evolutionary rate analysis was performed with PAML.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br data-mce-bogus="1"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Of 9,447 single-copy orthologous groups that met evaluation criteria, 150 genes had a significant excess of nonsynonymous substitutions along the&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;L. cinereus&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;branch (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt; 0.001 after manual review of alignments). Selected genes as a group had biased expression, most strongly in thymus tissue. We identified 23 selected genes with reported immune functions as well as a divergent paralog of&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Steep1&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;within suborder Yangochiroptera. Seventeen genes had roles in lipid and glucose metabolic pathways, partially overlapping with 15 mitochondrion-associated genes; these adaptations may reflect the metabolic challenges of hibernation, long-distance migration, and seasonal variation in prey abundance. The genomic distribution of positively selected genes differed significantly from background expectation by discrete Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt; 0.001). Remarkably, the top three physical clusters all coincided with islands of conserved synteny predating Mammalia, the largest of which shares synteny with the human cat-eye critical region (CECR) on 22q11. This observation coupled with the expansion of a novel&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Tbx1&lt;/i&gt;-like gene family may indicate evolutionary innovation during pharyngeal arch development: both the CECR and&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Tbx1&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;cause dosage-dependent congenital abnormalities in thymus, heart, and head, and craniodysmorphy is associated with human orthologs of other positively selected genes as well.&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.7717/peerj.13130</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>PeerJ</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Positively selected genes in the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) lineage: Prominence of thymus expression, immune and metabolic function, and regions of ancient synteny</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>