Eugene, did you read the article about prestin?Eugene I wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 6:18 pm I also think the middle-way scenario is most likely, especially if we consider facts like this:
How would the natural selection through random mutations make it possible that whales and bats share the same genes responsible for echolocation even though the anatomical mechanisms are different? IMO the probability of that happening by random mutations would be infinitesimally close to zero. On the other hand, exchanging useful genes between species is exactly what modern genetic engineering technology does. So, in reality the evolution could be a mix of natural selection and genetic engineering, which can be termed as a "guided and intervened natural selection".
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fu ... 09)02057-0Our findings suggest that the high-frequency acoustic sensitivities and selectivities of bat and whale echolocation rely on a common molecular design of prestin.
That takes away some of the mystery. The shared genes are the ones that produce the protein prestin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestin#: ... ir%20cells.Prestin is a protein that is critical to sensitive hearing in mammals. It is encoded by the SLC26A5 (solute carrier anion transporter family 26, member 5) gene.[5][6]
Prestin is the motor protein of the outer hair cells of the inner ear of the mammalian cochlea.[5] It is highly expressed in the outer hair cells, and is not expressed in the nonmotile inner hair cells. Immunolocalization shows prestin is expressed in the lateral plasma membrane of the outer hair cells, the region where electromotility occurs. The expression pattern correlates with the appearance of outer hair cell electromotility.